ISLAMABAD – The Election Commission of Pakistan on Saturday gave a week’s time to nine members of the PML-Q Unification Bloc for furnishing their replies against a reference filed by PML-Q leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin seeking their disqualification under the defection clause.
Chief Election Commissioner Justice (r) Hamid Ali Mirza heard the case against the nine MPAs of the Punjab Assembly who contested the 2008 general elections on PML-Q tickets but later formed the Unification Bloc. The representatives requested for copies of the charge sheet.
The chief election commissioner directed the Unification Bloc to submit their replies and a copy of their application submitted to the Punjab Assembly speaker by March 26. The petitioner had accused the Unification Bloc members of willfully forming an illegal bloc against the party’s policy, openly meeting and siding with the PML-Nawaz leadership and unconstitutionally selecting their own parliamentary leader.
Those accused are Dr Tahir Ali Javed, Mian Atta Muhammad Maneka, Chaudhry Arshad Jutt, Tariq Mehmood, Nasim Lodhi, Saba Sadiq, Farhana Afzal, Ayesha Javed and Joyce Rufin Julius.
