The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday directed a petitioner to submit a certified notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a case challenging the unopposed election of Malik Muhammad Shafi as a member of the Punjab Assembly from constituency PP-167.
Justice Ahmed Nadeem Arshad heard the petition filed by Malik Ali Zeeshan, a candidate from the same constituency. The petitioner argued that the Returning Officer issued the notification for Malik Shafi’s unopposed victory against the facts and that the ECP failed to meet legal requirements. He asked the court to declare the victory notification null and void.
After hearing initial arguments, the court adjourned the proceedings and granted time to the petitioner to submit a certified copy of the ECP notification.
Earlier, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had raised serious allegations about the by-election process in PP-167, claiming that its lawyer was kidnapped by police to prevent the party’s candidate from submitting nomination papers.
According to JI, the incident took place on the day nomination papers were to be filed for the PP-167 seat, which fell vacant after the death of Pakistan People’s Party candidate Irfan Shafi Khokhar. JI’s candidate, Chaudhry Abdul Qayyum Gujjar, was represented by lawyer Ijaz-ul-Hassan Ghauri.
JI Lahore Ameer Ziauddin Ansari Advocate claimed that police picked up Ghauri before he could submit the nomination papers and took him to Mustafa Town Police Station. He said the move was aimed at blocking the submission of nomination papers and clearing the way for the ruling party’s candidate to be elected unopposed.
Ansari, along with JI Lahore Deputy Secretaries Qaiser Sharif, Abdul Aziz Abid, Dr Mahmood Khan and other party leaders, later met the Returning Officer to protest the incident. He said that when the party leadership reached the RO’s office, the police personnel involved released the lawyer.
JI leaders also alleged that the doors of the Returning Officer’s office were closed ahead of time and that people who came to submit nomination papers were stopped from entering. Ansari claimed that only nomination papers of “government-favoured candidates” were accepted, calling the situation an example of undemocratic behaviour.
“The provincial government’s fascism has come to light on the occasion of filing nomination papers,” Ansari said, warning that intimidation of electoral candidates would not be tolerated.
