PTI member Chaudhry Rasib on Saturday admitted to receiving money from Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur during the party’s campaign for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election, prompting the returning officer for Mirpur to seize the cash, a private TV channel reported.
Returning Officer Mirpur Dadyal Raja Shamriz presided over a hearing in the matter of the distribution of money by Gandapur, a video of which went viral on social media. Rasib admitted that he had received Rs 390,000 from the federal minister but said that PTI candidate Azhar Sadiq, who is contesting the elections, had nothing to do with the incident.
The RO confiscated the money, declared the assembly candidate innocent and sent a detailed report on the matter to the AJK Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Justice (r) Abdul Rashid Sulehria.
On the other hand, AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider said that the Gandapur video proves a violation of the code of conduct, so Sadiq should be disqualified. He also demanded that Gandapur be banned from participating in the election campaign.
PPP Azad Kashmir President Chaudhry Latif Akbar also said that the incident is a test case for the Election Commission, and that Sadiq should be disqualified and Gandapur banned from the election campaign.
