International   

Furore over by-poll postponement

ISLAMABAD: Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister-in-waiting of Pakistan’s Punjab province and the brother of Pakistan Muslim league (N) leader, filed nominations for the Provincial Assembly by-elections on Tuesday, only to find the elections postponed by two months from June 18 to August 18.

The Election Commission said the two-month postponement of the by-elections to the National Assembly and the Assemblies was necessitated by the law and order in the North-West Frontier Province, the “overall security situation” and also the budget sessions of the National and Provincial Assemblies that are likely to be convened in the first week of June.

The postponement appeared to have caught the parties in the ruling coalition by surprise. The Pakistan People’s Party and the PML(N) condemned it and demanded an explanation from the Election Commission. Mr. Nawaz Sharif and PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari are also expected to contest the by-elections.

Just before the announcement, Mr. Sharif filed nomination papers at Sialkot in the Punjab province. Once elected, he is to take over as Chief Minister of the Punjab province. The PML(N) has appointed an interim Chief Minister to run its coalition government in the province until then.

Mr. Sharif ’s nomination in the February 18 elections was rejected because he was named in a murder case, but the charge has since been dropped.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan also filed nomination papers this morning for the now postponed by-elections.

A member of the PPP, he withdrew from the February 18 election to participate in the poll boycott by lawyers agitating for reinstatement of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf last year.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Death toll could reach 10,000: Myanmar Minister
Iran suspends talks with U.S. on Iraq
Referendum as scheduled
Furore over by-poll postponement
Hillary leads Obama
Fiat on evictions
Sabeel to be deported to India on Wednesday
Saudi Arabia may set up India investment fund

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu