Mayor Wahab accused of kidnapping opponents

Court issued notices to Murtaza Wahab, EC, parties and asked to respond by November 2

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court has issued notices to Murtaza Wahab, Election Commission and other parties on the petition related to the allegation of abducting the nominees and endorsers of the opposition candidate to elect Wahab as Karachi mayor without being elected from the Union Council of Ibrahim Hydari.

Two-member bench of the court headed by the acting Chief Justice of Sindh High Court Justice Irfan Saadat Khan heard the petition regarding the allegation of abduction of proposer and the approver.

Usman Farooq Advocate, the lawyer of the petitioner, Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Muhammad Sabir, stated that it is unfair for Murtaza Wahab to contest the election against ordinary candidates as the mayor. As the mayor of Karachi, he is running the campaign of not only himself but also other party candidates on government resources. This situation is a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution. A level playing field is not available to all candidates. The Returning Officer and the Election Tribunal did not understand the seriousness of the matter.

Acting Chief Justice remarked that other applications related to mayor Karachi have been filed earlier. Usman Farooq advocate requested that this application should be included with the same applications. The court issued notices to Murtaza Wahab, Election Commission, and other parties and asked the parties to respond by November 2.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2023.