LAHORE, Nov 17: An election tribunal of the Lahore High Court on Friday disqualified PPP MPA from Bahawalnagar (PP-280) Mohammad Yar Mamoonka on the ground that the returning officer of the constituency did not give reasons for rejecting a good number of ballot papers.

The tribunal directed the Election Commission to hold a by-election in the area to fill the vacant seat.

Comprising Justice Syed Sakhi Husain Bokhari, the tribunal held that the number of rejected and invalid ballot papers had made an impact on the election. The validity of such ballot papers, the tribunal observed, became doubtful when the returning officer had not recorded any reason for rejection from vote count.

The petition was moved by Asif Manzoor Mohal of the PML who submitted that his rival bagged 30,512 votes against his tally of 29,275. He submitted that 1,096 ballot papers were either rejected or declared invalid on technical reasons.

His defeat by 1,237 votes, the petitioner submitted, was mainly because most of the rejected ballot papers were cast in his favour and were not counted.