TOBA TEK SINGH: Federal Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry was fined Rs50,000 on Friday, while Senator Rana Sanaullah has been summoned for violating the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) code of conduct in the by-elections of two National Assembly and three Punjab Assembly constituencies to be held on Sunday (tomorrow).

In his letter to the ECP secretary, Faisalabad District Monitoring Officer (DMO) Muhammad Murtaza Malik wrote that two notices were issued to Mr Chaudhry and he was also telephonically told about his repetitive violations of the code of conduct, but he failed to comply with the orders. A fine of Rs50,000 had been imposed on him as per the Election Act, 2017, he added.

He said that the matter was being forwarded to the ECP as per the law for taking further necessary action against him.

Meanwhile, the DMO has also issued a notice to Senator Rana Sanaullah for violating ECP’s code of conduct on Friday.

Independent candidate contesting by-election against Talal’s brother claims police being used to harass his supporters

The notice said that Mr Sanaullah had attended a rally of his son-in-law and PML-N ticket holder for PP-116 Rana Shehryar on Nov 20. The DMO has summoned Mr Sanaullah on Saturday (today) to submit an explanation.

In NA-96, former MNA and independent candidate Malik Nawab Sher Waseer claimed that the Jaranwala police had been harassing his supporters on the behest of Mr Chaudhry and forcing them to support his own brother, PML-N candidate Bilal Badar Chaudhry.

Addressing a meeting of his supporters on Thursday night in Jaranwala, he claimed that one of his group’s main leaders, Shahbaz Kalyar, was arrested on the ‘fake’ charge of attacking the house of a PML-N supporter.

He claimed that no such incident ever took place. He said the ruling party was worried after seeing public support for him and were adopting unlawful actions against his workers.

Meanwhile, all independent candidates of all five national and provincial constituencies are claiming that they are being backed by the PTI leadership. It is pertinent to mention that the PTI has announced the boycott of this by-elections and no other political party is contesting the by-elections against the PML-N nominees.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2025