Daily Times

Election Commission (EC) has expressed annoyance over non filing of reply by provincial law minister Raja Basharat in respect of petition seeking his disqualification.

The court has directed him to appear on October 8 for final arguments in the case.

EC met under Member Punjab Altaf Hussain Qureshi on Thursday. The petition seeking deseating of Punjab law minister Raja Basharat came up for hearing before EC.

The EC member Punjab Altaf Hussain Qureshi inquired from the counsel for Punjab law minister as to why reply has not been filed so far. Why do you waste your, our and petitioners time.

Counsel for Raja Basharat said reply will be filed today. We have to collect documents from different institutions and Raja Basharat himself is in Lahore.

The petitioner said ” I come from Lahore and the provincial minister makes some excuse every time.

She requested the commission to initiate contempt of election commission proceedings against Raja Basharat.

Member Punjab said the entire system will be devastated if commission and tribunals start initiating contempt proceedings. As to why the expenses incurred by you on travelling from Lahore to Islamabad and back be not charged to Raja Basharat.

The petitioner said she does not want to receive a single pie from person like Raja Basharat.