The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned till October 26 the hearing of Siddique Khan Baloch's appeal against Multan's Election Tribunal's verdict disqualifying him from NA 154, (Lodhran -I). Siddique Baloch was unseated from NA-154, Lodhran-I, constituency by the Election Tribunal Multan on August 26 in response to a complaint filed by Pakistan Threek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Jahangir Khan Tareen.
Baloch challenged the tribunal's verdict in the Supreme Court which granted stay order in the matter on September 29. Resuming his arguments before a three-member bench led by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, the appellant's counsel Shahzad Shaukat contended that more than 12 voters had submitted affidavits on rigging in the constituency but nobody mentioned his client's name in vote rigging.
Shaukat further pleaded that National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) reported that out of 300,000 votes as many as 20,000 votes were found to be unverified. He said that complainant accused his client of rigging without identifying how the rigging took place. The counsel for Tareen, who was runner-up in NA-154, contended that Election Tribunal Multan had declared Siddique Khan Baloch's academic degree `fake' and his election null and void, arguing that it is not possible for an educated person to forget the subjects he once studied.
Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed that even he forgot the subjects he graduated in as he passed the exams a long time ago. Issuing directives to Tareen's counsel to resume arguments on the next hearing, the bench adjourned the matter till October 26. While talking to the media after the proceedings, Tareen expressed the hope that next week, the current case would be resolved, saying the matter relating to fake degree was not his business but it has to be decided by the apex court.
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