LHC asked to postpone NA-127 polls after Maryam's disqualification
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday was petitioned to postpone the holding of elections in Lahore's NA-127 constituency, the seat from which PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz was contesting before she was disqualified by an accountability court in the Avenfield corruption reference..
Voter Imran Butt submitted an application through his counsel requesting the court to postpone the election in NA-127, arguing that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had postponed elections in NA-60 after PML-N candidate Hanif Abbasi was disqualified and sent to jail by a special court a few days earlier.
He added that Maryam had also been disqualified but the election was still going to be held in the constituency. The petitioner argued that as per the Constitution, all citizens are equal in eyes of the law, but Maryam was being discriminated against by the ECP, and pleaded with the court to postpone the election in NA-127.
On Sunday, the ECP had announced that the NA-60 polls had been postponed after Abbasi's disqualification. It said that as preparations for the elections were in their final stages, the ballot papers for the constituency already had Abbasi's election symbol printed on them.
The ECP had said that as it is "bound to provide a level playing field to all candidates [...] the general election in NA-60 is postponed and will be conducted after the scheduled general elections, along with other postponed elections".