Islamabad: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has raised doubts about the polling process involved in the election of the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly.
PTI’s Member of the Punjab Assembly (MPA) Sibtain Khan was elected Speaker of the House securing 185 votes. His election was held following his predecessor Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s election as chief minister of the province.
'Illegal, unconstitutional polling'
The PTI’s rival candidate Saif-ul-Malook Khokhar from the PML-N secured 175 votes. However, terming the voting process illegal and unconstitutional, the party has decided to challenge the election in the Lahore High Court (LHC).
A petition in this regard has been filed in the court which is fixed for hearing on Monday, Aug 1.
PTI’s Abbasi elected Deputy Speaker unopposed
PTI’s Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi was elected Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Assembly unopposed following ouster of his predecessor Dost Muhammad Mazari in a no-trust move.
The PTI leader emerged victorious after his rival and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPA Ali Haider Gilani refused to submit his nomination papers alleging violation of rules and disregard for the set procedure.
The PML-N’s petition challenging election of the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly alleges that legal requirements were not fulfilled in the election process.
Serial numbers printed on ballot papers
The party has challenged the credibility of the contest and raised objections to the serial number printed on counterfoil of the ballot paper. “This means that the voter could be traced, which is against the spirit of secret balloting. They termed it illegal and against the set parliamentary norms.
The petition quotes several PML-N members who noticed serial numbers printed on the ballot papers, which is against the spirit of secret polling. However, by the time they pointed it out almost 30-40 per cent voting was completed. According to the petition, such a method of printing serial numbers has never been adopted in the past and the PTI has done it to bulldoze the voting process.
Later, the PML-N lawmakers approached the staffer of the assembly secretariat that was responsible for issuing the ballot papers.
At one stage the PML-N candidate for the office of the Speaker, Saif-ul-Malook Khokhar snatched the ballot paper book from a member of the polling staff and threw it towards his party’s members.
