LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the returning officer (RO) on a petition of a PTI candidate from NA-128 Salman Akram Raja filed against declaring him an independent candidate.

The court said it was eager to know the answers of many questions and to see whether the ballot papers had been printed or not. The court, therefore, directed the ECP and the RO NA-128 to submit their replies by January 25 (today).

Earlier the petitioner’s counsel argued that his client belonged to the PTI and intended to contest the elections as a candidate of the party and added he was listed amongst the final list of the candidates issued by the PTI on its website.

The counsel pointed out that the PTI had been deprived of its electoral symbol by the ECP and the Supreme Court upheld the decision. However, he said, the party continued to exist and the petitioner was not an independent candidate. He asked the court to declare that the petitioner was a candidate of the PTI and not an independent for the general elections to be held on February 08.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024