The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday restored the National Assembly membership of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Sheikh Mohammad Akram, setting aside an earlier verdict by an election tribunal declaring Ahmed Ludhianvi to be the winner from the NA-89 Jhang constituency.
An election tribunal in Faisalabad had disqualified Akram in its order on April 9, 2014 on a petition filed by Ludhianvi, who had alleged that Akram was not an eligible candidate as he did not fulfill the condition of being ‘sadiq and ameen’ (honest and righteous).
Akram had defeated Ludhianvi by a margin of 2,726 votes in the May 2013 general elections.
A three-judge bench of the apex court headed Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, which was hearing Akram’s appeal against the election tribunal’s decision, had reserved its judgement on December 8, 2015.
Announcing the reserved verdict today, the Supreme Court reverted the tribunal’s decision and restored the NA membership of Sheikh Muhammad Akram.
