Supreme Court orders deferment of PP-4 Gojar Khan by-election
ECP had disqualified PML-N candidate Shaukat Bhatti on grounds of alleged forged documents
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The apex court ordered the deferment of by-elections to be held in PP-4 Gojar Khan for an indefinite period of time. The Supreme Court maintained the decision to disqualify Shaukat Aziz Bhatti, the candidate of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
The apex court announced the decision on basis of unconfirmed academic degrees of the PML-N contestant and sought the academic record of Shaukat Aziz Bhatti from the Higher Education Comission (HEC) in order to establish the credibility of the documents produced in the court. Three member bench led by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said that stakeholder should base their argument upon established facts.
The petitioner’s lawyer said that court has authourity to proceed with the confirmation regarding the originality of diploma certificates. Chief Justice remarked that the documents dating back to 2007 state that Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) is the academic qualification of Shaukat Aziz Bhatti.
The Supreme Court ordered the deferment of elections till the investigation of academic record does not reach any conclusion and also issued a notice to the Attorney General for assistance in following the investigation process.
