Supreme Court clears ex-minister to contest election

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declared former state minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Saira Afzal Tarar eligible to contest the July 26 election from the National Assembly constituency NA-87 Hafizabad. 

A bench of the top court dismissed an appeal challenging the PML-N candidate’s eligibility to take part in the election for allegedly concealing details of her bank accounts in her nomination papers.

The petitioner approached the Supreme Court, appealing against the Lahore High Court verdict that allowed Ms Tarar to run for a national assembly seat in Hafizabad (NA-87).

The LHC had earlier dismissed an election petition challenging the acceptance of nomination papers of the PML-N candidate. 

The bench rejected the petition for being non-maintainable and upheld the verdict of a LHC election tribunal to allow Ms Tarar to contest general election.

The petitioner alleged that the former minister concealed details of her properties in nomination papers.

She neither disclosed the details of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases pending against her husband nor her husband’s source of income, he argued.

He pleaded that the election candidate is not qualified to contest the poll under the Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution and requested the bench to declare her disqualified.

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