SC declares Sheikh Akram as returned candidate from NA-89

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared PML-N's Sheikh Mohammad Akram as returned candidate from NA-89 Jhang, after he was unseated by an election tribunal on April 9, 2014, which had declared his opponent, Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, as the returned candidate from the constituency.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Saqib Nisar heard the case and announced its verdict on a petition submitted by Akram in 2014 following his disqualification by an election tribunal in April 2014. The tribunal had declared runner-up candidate Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat elected. The court also declared the decision of election tribunal as null and void.

Earlier in December 2015, the apex court while reserving its verdict on the petition had suspended the decision of the election tribunal, which had declared the runners up Muhammad Ahmad Ludhianvi as successful candidate from the constituency Ludhianvi, the head of the proscribed Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), and Akram contested May 11, 2013 polls on the National Assembly seat NA-89 (Jhang). "The judgment is reserved," Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had announced in December last year, after conducting an extensive hearing.

Both Ludhianvi and his opponent's son Sheikh Waqqas Akram, were present in court along with their supporters. Ludhianvi was represented by senior counsel Tariq Mehmood, while Makhdoom Ali Khan was the counsel for Mr Akram. Mr Akram had contested the election and won the NA- 89 seat in place of his son, Sheikh Waqas Akram, who had been mired in legal proceedings related to a fake degree charge. The Jhang constituency has always considered a hotbed of sectarian strife.