LAHORE: A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court would announce on Thursday (today) a verdict reserved on a petition of former railways minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq challenging decision of an election tribunal that had annulled his 2013 election in NA-125, Lahore, and ordered a re-poll in the constituency.

The apex court had reserved the verdict on March 19 at principal seat (Islamabad), however, it would be announced today at the Lahore registry by a bench comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik.

PTI’s runner-up candidate Hamid Khan had challenged the victory of Saad Rafiq before the election tribunal on charges of massive rigging by the PML-N. The tribunal had in 2015 declared the result of the election null and void with a direction to the ECP to hold fresh poll in the constituency within 60 days. However, Mr Rafiq challenged the decision before the Supreme Court and got it suspended.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2018