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Petition seeking disqualification of Bilawal, Asif Zardari rejected

July 06, 2018

LAHORE, July 06 (INP): The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday dismissed a petition seeking disqualification of Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari from contesting the upcoming elections. After reserving the verdict briefly, the LHC bench dismissed the petition for lacking substance. The petitioner, Advocate Iqbal Haider, raised objection over Bilawal’s use of the ‘arrow’ electoral symbol on the cover of the party’s recently released manifesto. [timed-content-server show="07/07/2018 01:00 Asia/Karachi"]“PPP’s measure is in violation of section 215 (3) of Election Act 2017” the petition stated, “Chairman of Peoples Party Parliamentarian Asif Ali Zardari has been using party flag in clear violation of section 200 (2) of the Election Act. As per law, no political party can make use of another party’s flag in its campaigns and manifesto”. Earlier on June 19, nomination papers of Former President and Co-Chairman of the PPP, Asif Ali Zardari from NA 213 were approved by the Returning Officer (RO). A petitioner, objecting to Zardari’s candidature, said that the former president had purchased 1,500 acres of agricultural land in Sanghar but had failed to pay tax. He was also accused of not paying water tax for using canal water. Returning officer, Muhammad Mehmood Awan rejected the objections and gave green signal to Asif Ali Zardari to contest elections. On June 19, nomination papers of Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari were accepted. Bilawal’s nominations papers for NA-246 (Karachi) were accepted. INP/AJ[/timed-content-server]