Justice Shabbar Raza Rizvi of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday disqualified a person Muhammad Aslam from contesting any election and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 upon him for levelling false allegations on returning officer.
The court also directed the office to make arrangements for the recovery of amount of fine in accordance with the law and rules. The court observed that it was very unfortunate that it had become a routine to level false and wild allegations against the innocent persons disregarding their status and position which was not only illegal but also a sin in accordance with our religious values.
The court, rejecting the request of the petitioner counsel for pardon, observed that under the Constitution of Pakistan maligning judiciary is a serious offence.
The petitioner had alleged that respondent returning officer; civil judge Sheikhupura did not consider his nomination papers under the influence of sitting district Nazim. The respondent had announced the petitioner's candidature for the Muslim general councillor along with nine other candidates and the symbol of ball was allotted to him, but at the time of polling his symbol was not printed on the ballot paper.
The petitioner contended that the respondent returning officer under the influence of nazim did not get his symbol printed on the ballot paper so as to refrain him from contesting the elections. The returning officer appeared before the court and rebuffed the allegations. The petitioner counsel request the court to allow him to withdraw the petition, but the court took serious notice.