Barrister Asjad Saeed, counsel for National Assembly (NA) Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, has apprised the election tribunal that no action was required on Imran Khan’s election petition terming it to be non-maintainable.
The tribunal comprising Justice (r) Kazim Ali Malik was hearing the election petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan challenging the election of NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq from NA-122 Lahore constituency.
In his final arguments on Saturday, Barrister Asjad Saeed raising questions on maintainability of petition submitted that it was not maintainable as attached affidavits did not fulfill legal requirements. He said that the apex court had held in a number of cases that if a petition was not maintainable then no further action was required.
He told the tribunal that perusal of evidence reveal that PTI Chairman Imran Khan did not have any information about alleged rigging at his own.
“Imran has admitted that PTI provincial assembly candidate Shoaib Siddiqui informed him about alleged rigging,” he said, adding that Khan did not produce Shoaib Siddiqui as witness before the tribunal.
He said that if a party relied on a particular evidence and did not produce it before the court then it was generally assumed that the evidence was against the party. Similarly, Shoaib Siddiqui was not produced before the tribunal as witness because his evidence was against Imran Khan, he contended.
The tribunal after hearing his arguments at length adjourned the further hearing till June 30 and directed Sadiq’s counsel to continue arguments on next hearing.