Islamabad (Staff Report): The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday announced that polling in the NA-60 constituency has been postponed due to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Hanif Abbasi's disqualification.
The ECP in a press release said that the preparations for the general elections were in their final stages and ballot papers for the constituency were already printed with Hanif Abbasi's election symbol on them.
As the ECP is "bound to provide a level playing field to all candidates [...] the general election in NA-60 is postponed and will be conducted after the scheduled general elections, along with other postponed elections".
On Saturday, Abbasi was arrested and sent to Adiala jail on Saturday night after he was convicted by the Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) Court of Rawalpindi and handed down life term in the case related to misuse of controlled chemical ephedrine.
The ANF had registered a case against Abbasi and his accomplices in June 2012 under Section 9-C, 14 and 15 of the CNS Act under which a convict may be awarded the death sentence.
Earlier, three other PML-N candidates for National Assembly seats — Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of the party’s supremo Nawaz Sharif, from Lahore, her husband retired Capt Safdar from Mansehra and Danyal Aziz from Narowal — have been disqualified from contesting polls after being convicted
