ISLAMABAD: The electoral body has refixed the hearing on the coming Tuesday in a case against Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi, and Shehar Naz Omar Ayub Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed candidate for a recently held by-election on National Assembly’s seat NA-18 Haripur, over alleged code of conduct violation in the said by-poll.
The cause list issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday suggested that the electoral body issued notices to the KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Babar Nawaz Khan, the petitioner and returned candidate for NA-18 Haripur, and Shehar Naz Omar Ayub, the wife of former NA opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan.
The cases involving alleged code of conduct violations on the Punjab Assembly’s seat, PP-269 Muzaffargarh, and NA-185 Muzaffargarh, are also fixed for hearing on Thursday, as per the cause list.
The NA-18 seat had fallen vacant following Omar’s disqualification at the hands of an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in a case registered in connection with the 9 May riots.
The case was scheduled to be heard on 4th December but was delisted due to the unavailability of the ECP bench.
The hearing was rescheduled to 10th December but postponed after a five-member ECP full bench led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja hearing this case was informed during the hearing that the father-in-law of Ali Bukhari, the CM KP’s counsel in the case, had passed away.
On 20th November, the ECP said it took notice of CM KP’s public speech in Havelian, a tehsil of district Abbottabad, delivered a day earlier on 19th November.
The poll entity accused CM Afridi of threatening the district administration, police, and electoral officials assigned to hold the NA-18 by-election, which was held on 23rd November. In the hearing of this case on 25th November, the ECP bench granted the CM KP exemption from physical appearance for the remaining hearings.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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