SHC turns down request to bar two elected MPAs from taking oath

PPP’s Sassui Palijo and MQM’s Rauf Siddiqui had alleged their rivals rigged the elections.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) turned down a request to bar two elected MPA from taking oath during the Sindh Assembly session yesterday (Wednesday).

The requests were made by Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Rauf Siddiqui and Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Saussi Palijo. Siddiqui, who lost PS-114 to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Irfanullah Khan Marwat, had gone to court, pleading it to nullify the election results and order re-polling in the entire constituency.

He claimed that Marwat had sabotaged the electoral process during May 11, firing rounds into the air and lobbing small explosives at him. “The petitioner survived an attempt on his life that day,” Siddiqui’s lawyer told the judges.

Siddiqui alleged the PML-N candidate had rigged the election and told the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to look into the matter. The poll body has yet to take a decision on the matter, said the petitioner’s lawyer. He pleaded the court to order re-polling in PS-114 and restrain Marwat from attending the provincial assembly session on May 29 (today).



Turning down the plea, the bench, headed by Justice Faisal Arab, directed the ECP to look into the matter and resolve it.

Another bench, headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar, also dismissed an application filed by PPP’s Saussi Palijo pleading the high court to restrain Ameer Haider Shah Shirazi from attending the assembly session.

Palijo, who had challenged Shirazi’s victory after losing PS-85 to him, told the judges that since the allegations of rigging were still being looked into, he should be restrained from attending the Sindh Assembly session.

Dismissing the plea, the judges said since her main petition challenging election results was already fixed for hearing, there was no ground for it to hear her miscellaneous plea.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2013.