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LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Pervaiz Rasheed has challenged the rejection of his nomination for the upcoming Senate polls.
Pervaiz Rasheed moved to the Lahore High Court (LHC) election tribunal against the rejection of his nomination papers by the returning officer. He said he is willing to pay Rs9.5 million to remove the objection and the returning officer had illegally rejected his nomination papers.
He further stated that he tried to remove the objections of the election commission but it had failed to submit address them He said the cheque was also prepared for the Punjab House but no information was provided about the bank.
He complained against the government for not receiving the money. He pleaded with the LHC election tribunal to nullify the decision relating to the rejection of his nomination papers.
Yesterday, the ECP returning officer had rejected Rasheed’s papers on the pretext that he owed millions of rupees to the Punjab House. Rasheed was told he was a defaulter of the Punjab House in Islamabad and his nomination would be accepted only after he cleared the dues. The returning officer said that he failed to provide evidence regarding having cleared the dues.
The PML-N leader termed the development an attempt to keep him from contesting Senate polls, saying he was not informed of the outstanding dues. “When I tried to fulfill this demand by paying the outstanding amount and exercising my right to participate in the polls, all government officials disappeared from their seats and offices,” he said, adding that officers were not giving bank account number nor are they taking cash
He alleged that the PTI was inventing fake cases to incarcerate opposition leaders. He claimed government officials were not ready to accept the payment as they had been given directives by Prime Minister Imran Khan so that he could be stopped from contesting the polls on technical grounds.
In 2018, the Punjab government had released a list of 76 politicians, bureaucrats and others for defaulting on the payment for their stay and meals at Punjab House in Islamabad.
According to the list at the time, Rasheed owed Rs7.05m, including Rs0.69m charges for his stay from January to August in 2011 and Rs6.4m for his stay between June 2013 and May 2018. His daughter Poonam Rasheed owed Rs2.7m.
