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Pakistan's Ayaz Sadiq to challenge unseating by tribunal

Replying to a question whether he still considered himself as speaker, Ayaz Sadiq said the tribunal has annulled his election as member of the assembly which means he is no more its speaker as well.

Islamabad: National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who has been unseated by an election tribunal on a petition of his rival candidate and PTI Chairman Imran Khan, has said that he will challenge in the Supreme Court the tribunal's decision.
Talking to newsmen in Lahore soon after the ruling, Ayaz Sadiq said the tribunal has placed the responsibility of flawed election on the election machinery on which he had no control.
"I accept the verdict but will exercise my legal right of appeal in the Supreme Court on the basis of procedural flaws," he said.
Replying to a question whether he still considered himself as speaker, Ayaz Sadiq said the tribunal has annulled his election as member of the assembly which means he is no more its speaker as well.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who spoke to Ayaz on telephone after the verdict, said the tribunal has given a legal decision which must be respected by all. However, the PML-N will use its legal right to challenge it in the Supreme Court.
A beaming Imran Khan in his address to PTI workers in Lahore said the ruling affirmed his position that the 2013 polls were flawed. After the polls he had sought the vote audit in four constituencies but was forced to take to streets and organised the longest ever dharna to highlight the fact that 2013 polls were manipulated. Already the election tribunals have annulled elections in two of the four constituencies he had identified. Verdict in the third is due on Wednesday. These rulings have cast a dark shadow on the validity of entire election.
Khan acknowledged that he had felt greatly dismayed over rejection of his allegation of organised rigging by an inquiry commission formed to investigate rigging charges but had accepted its conclusions.
Khan said he had written a comprehensive letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) about 40 instances of serious irregularities identified by the inquiry commission. The ECP has so far failed to respond. He warned that he would stage another sit-in if the ECP did not answer his letter within next two weeks.
Referring to Ayaz Sadiq, Imran Khan said he was not happy at his loss. "I can feel your and your family's pain but my fight was not against you," he said, adding that he wanted to reform the electoral system to eliminate all chances of rigging.
The negative verdict on two key seats of Lahore, a city regarded PML-N's stronghold, is being seen as a serious setback to Prime Minister Sharif.
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