LAHORE – In response to the disqualification petition filed against the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) turncoats, the Election Commission of Pakistan has issued notices to nine Punjab Assembly members asking them to furnish their replies within three days while March 19 has been affixed as the next hearing date. Earlier, Chaudhry Zaheeruddin, leader of the Unification Bloc in the Punjab Assembly had filed the petition against nine MPAs, 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, who had contested on PML tickets with bicycle as their election symbol in election 2008.
Zaheeruddin had accused the turncoats of willfully forming an illegal unification bloc against the party policy, openly meeting and siding with the PML-N leadership. He had also accused the turncoats of unconstitutionally selecting their own parliamentary leader along with a request for a place on the government benches in the assembly. The nine turncoats through the show cause notices issued by Chaudhry Zaheeruddin had been asked to send their written replies within three days of the issuance date as their constitutional obligation but they had failed to respond in the stipulated time thus necessitating the filing of their disqualification petition with the EC.
