LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday turned down a Punjab government’s request to postpone by- election for NA 133 Lahore, scheduled for Decrmber 5, 2021.
The Punjab government had approached to ECP a few days ago with a request to postpone the by-election in NA 133 Lahore as nomination papers of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) candidate, Jamshaid Iqbal Cheema, and her spouse, Musarat Jamshaid Cheema , who was his covering candidate, have been rejected by the Returning Officer (RO) on the technical grounds. The RO had questioned nomination papers of Jamshaid Iqbal Cheema and her spouse as their proposers and seconders were not from the constituency from where PTI candidate and his covering candidate wanted to contest by -election.
NA 133 Lahore is an important constituency of Lahore from where PMLN had always won . In the last election, PMLN’s Pervez Malik had won from this constituency. The seat had fallen vacant with his demice last month. Honouring life- long association of Malik family with the party , PMLN has awarded ticket to Shaista Pervez Malik, widow of deceased Pervez Malik, for by -election of NA 133 Lahore. Shaista Pervez Malik, being a soft face of the party herself in the media, is a strong candidate for the contest.
The ruling Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) had awarded its ticket for NA 133 by-election to Jamshaid Iqbal Cheema , a new face in parliamentary politics. Since his spouse Musarat Jamshaid Cheema is a close confident of chief minister Punjab, Sardar Usman Buzdar, she managed to first install her husband in power corridor in Islamabad by securing position of a special assistant for her husband. After enjoying position as special assistant to the prime minister for nearly one year, Musrat Jamshaid Cheema managed to get ticket for her husband to make his entry into the parliament after winning by poll of NA 133.
But her dream shattered last week when the RO rejected nomination papers of Jamshaid Iqbal Cheema and her’s as covering candidate of her spouse.
With rejection of a Punjab government ‘s request for postpone of by-election, PTI is almost out of the NA 133 contest.