Daily Times

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Anjum Aqeel to contest from NA-54, asking the petitioner against him to approach the court after elections.

The petitioner in the case, Malik Amjad Mahmood, told the court that a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiry has been underway since 2011 against Anjum Aqeel who is also a defaulter of multiple institutions.

The two-member bench, headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, inquired why the petitioner had not presented these facts in front of the returning officer (RO) during scrutiny of nomination papers.

When the petitioner said that the RO was aware of these facts, the court asked him to return with his application after Wednesday’s elections.

Last week, NAB had opened a second inquiry against Aqeel, who is contesting against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Leader Asad Umar.

The apex court appeared unwilling to take any decision that could affect the elections as, on another application against an independent candidate from PP-240, the court remarked that it will now be difficult to halt the election in the area.

PTI candidate Mumtaz Ahmed had approached the SC against acceptance of independent candidate Fazal Mahmood.

The petitioner said that Fazal Mahmood’s nomination papers were rejected in 2008 because he held a fake degree.

Allowing the candidate to contest the election, the court ruled that the notification for Fazal’s victory will not be issued without a court decision on the matter if the independent candidate manages to win.

Published in Daily Times, July 24^th 2018.