Election tribunal dismisses Yasmin Rashid's petition challenging Nawaz Sharif's NA-130 victory
Pakistan
The tribunal declared Dr Yasmin Rashid’s election petition against Nawaz Sharif’s victory as non-maintainable
LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) – A detailed verdict has been issued rejecting the election petition filed by Dr Yasmin Rashid against Nawaz Sharif over the NA-130 constituency. The decision states that under Section 144 of the Elections Act, all legal requirements must be fulfilled at the time of filing an election petition, and that Dr Yasmin Rashid’s petition did not meet the criteria laid down in Sections 139, 142, 143 and 144 of the Act.
Lahore Election Tribunal Judge Rana Zahid issued a 24-page written decision on Dr Rashid’s petition challenging Nawaz Sharif’s victory in NA-130. The tribunal held that under the Elections Act, prior permission of the tribunal is mandatory to include any party in an election petition. However, Dr Rashid failed to file her petition within the prescribed time.
According to the verdict, Nawaz Sharif’s victory notification was issued on February 14, but despite the formation of the election tribunal, the petition was not filed within the stipulated period. Instead of approaching the election tribunal, Dr Rashid filed her petition before the Election Commission.
The tribunal noted that Dr Rashid did not seek permission from the tribunal to make the Election Commission, the returning officer, and the district returning officer parties to the case. This was termed an illegal and unconstitutional step, leading to the deletion of these authorities from the list of respondents.
The tribunal declared Dr Yasmin Rashid’s election petition against Nawaz Sharif’s victory as non-maintainable.
The verdict further stated that, according to Dr Rashid’s counsel, the affidavit attached with the petition was mistakenly misplaced, while the lawyer claimed that all evidence and receipts had been attached to the petition.
Nawaz Sharif’s counsel raised objections to the maintainability of the petition, arguing that it was filed without fulfilling legal requirements and that the petition did not even bear Dr Yasmin Rashid’s signatures. Accepting these objections, the tribunal dismissed Dr Yasmin Rashid’s election petition against Nawaz Sharif.
