ISLAMABAD: The top court decided on Thursday to stop the proceedings on three separate petitions challenging the candidature of political figures contesting elections from different Punjab constituencies.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Azmat Sheikh observed that the petitions will be heard once the elections were over.
The court allowed the PTI candidate from NA-146 Arif Wala, Ahmad Joiya, to contest the election and observed that they will hear complaints against him after elections.
The SC also allowed Mir Badshah Qaisrani and Khawaja Islam to contest elections as independent candidates from PP-285 DG Khan and PP-111 Faisalabad, respectively.
Petitioner Waseem Zafar had filed a complaint against PTI’s candidate Ahmad Joiya, claiming that in the previous three elections Joya said he was a graduate. However, in the affidavit submitted before the top court this time around he has mentioned himself as matriculate.
The apex court postponed the hearing till elections are over.
Earlier, during last week, the top court had restrained the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from pursuing its investigation against PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in the fake bank accounts case till the 2018 polls were over.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar observed, “We do not want excuses that the July 25 elections are rigged.”
He made the remarks while hearing a suo motu case regarding the slow-paced investigation on part of the agency in pending inquiries relating to suspicious transactions worth Rs35 billion through fake accounts.