PHC upholds ECP decision to de-seat Abbottabad nazim

Sardar Sher Bahadur says he will contest the verdict in the Supreme Court

ABBOTTABAD: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday upheld the decision of Election Commission of Pakistan and de-seated Abbottabad District Nazim Sardar Sher Bahadur.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin and Justice Syed Afsar Shah, while announcing the 32-page verdict, maintained the ECP’s decision of de-seating the district nazim.

“Yes it is true the court has de-seated me maintaining the ECP’s decision,” Bahadur told The Express Tribune.

Despite losing his seat, Bahadur appeared to be upbeat, noting that he had started consultations with his legal advisers and would soon challenge the decision in the apex court.

Asked about on what grounds he would challenge the PHC’s decision, he said that in a similar case from Karachi, the apex court had termed any amendment in the law relating to elections after the announcement of election schedule was ineffective.

He said that the K-P government had amended clause 78-A of the LGA 2013 just six days after the announcement of the election schedule for the Local bodies elections.

Bahadur had been de-seated by the ECP along with 11 other members of a forward block of the PTI in the district council on January 29, 2016. The ECP action came on a reference filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf with which Bahadur served as a district president before the 2015 LB elections. According to ECP’s decision, those who were de-seated from Abbottabad district council are Bahadur, Shaukat Tanoli, Nazeer Abbasi, Dr Usama, Abdul Wahab, Muhammad Zulfiqar, Shehla Zulfiqar, Bushra Jadoon, Yasmin Tariq, Shiraz Iqbal Abbasi, and Yasmin Bibi.

Tehsil members from Abbottabad who were de-seated included Basit Naseem Abbasi, Abeera Gul, Nighat Yasmin and Suraya Guriya while those from Havelian Tehsil included Habibullah, Tariq Maseeh, Nabeela Bibi, Shakila Naz and Nagina Bibi.

Bahadur and Tanoli were elected as the district nazim and naib nazim respectively during August 2015 with support from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) by defeating PTI’s official nominees Ali Khan Jadoon and Sardar Waqar Nabi.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2017.