"We are requesting that this investigation be annulled on account of the fact that there are insufficientgrounds to support it, " said defence lawyer Richard Malka.
Before he called his first witness, Sherman made a motion to have the judge enter an acquittal on the grounds that the prosecution presented insufficient evidence to warrant a conviction.
Some 4, 000 candidates have been disqualified from upcoming ballots by Pakistan's increasingly influential judiciary, on grounds including suspected financial improprieties and insufficient knowledge of Islam.