Punjab govt files petition for deferment of Pakistan bye-elections

In a surprise move, the government in Pakistan's Punjab province today filed a petition in the Lahore high court for the deferment of bye-elections to four provincial and national assembly constituencies due to security concerns.

Former premier and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, the elder brother of Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, was among those planning to enter the parliament through the bye-polls. The PML-N currently rules Punjab.

"How can the PML-N government in Punjab move the court against the decision of the election commission when its chief will be the main beneficiary of winning the bye-polls?" a PML-N leader said.

"A majority of people in the party are surprised over the move and can't understand the mind of the leadership," the leader said.

The move could stop Nawaz from reaching the lower house of parliament, he added.

When the supreme court barred Nawaz from contesting elections earlier this year, he had described the verdict as part of a "conspiracy on the part of president Asif Ali Zardari".