Sumaira Malik's election victory challenged

Category: Current Affairs
Written by: Amend Foster (on May 03, 2008 - 08:40 PM)

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The Lahore High Court (LHC) has asked Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid Member of National Assembly Sumaira Malik, who won elections from NA-69, to appear in the court on a petition challenging her election victory.

The court has also asked other candidates from the constituency who lost the elections to appear before the court and has ordered the Election Commission (EC) to preserve the election record of the constituency.

The petitioner, Malik Umar Aslam Awan, a candidate who lost the elections from the same constituency, appeared before Justice Muhammad Bilal Khan and alleged that the EC had changed the results that had been provided by the presiding officers.

He also alleged that Malik managed to get votes cast in her favour by using the state machinery at the behest of her husband who was a bureaucrat. “The returning officers also cleared hundreds of votes in her favour, which had been earlier cancelled by presiding officers of various polling stations,” he alleged.

Awan also alleged that seven presiding officers had been abducted by the workers of Malik who were later recovered after orders by the returning officer. “Sumaira did her intermediate in 1981, but had not done graduation till 2002. Her husband, who was then the schools additional secretary, obtained a fake BA degree for her,” he said, adding that she also could not contest elections because she was a bank defaulter and a petition in this regard was pending before the LHC Rawalpindi bench.

Awan requested the court to disqualify Malik and declare him the winner.

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