Appeals of Zulfiqar, Fehmida, Qadri, Farooqui rejected

SHC Election Tribunal head expresses anger at ROs; suggests ECP take action against them

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI/ LAHORE:

The election tribunal in Karachi on Monday rejected the appeals filed against rejection of nomination papers of political leaders, including Grand Democratic Alliance's (GDA) Zulfiqar Mirza and Fahmida Mirza, Pakistan Sunni Tehreek President Sarwat Ejaz Qadri and Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party candidate Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi.

The tribunal granted independent candidates Mohsin Nisar Pahnwar from PS-85, Aftab Bakai from PS-91, Muhammad Irfan from PS-98, Anwar Tareen from NA-242, MQM candidate Arshad Vohra from NA-240, PTI candidates Hasna Nadeem from PS-116, Amjad Khan from PS-116, Hassan Zaib from PS-118, Arzu Faisal from PS-63 Hyderabad and Imran from PS-116 the permission to contest elections.

Nomination papers of PTI candidate Abdul Qayyum from PS-118, Shahzad Hussain Shah of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan from PS-113, Mustafa Ameer from PS-75 Thatta were also accepted.

The election tribunal also accepted the appeal of independent candidate Advocate Johar Abid after annulling the RO's initial decision.'Action against ROs'

Taking exception to the high number of rejections, Sindh High Court (SHC) Election Tribunal head Justice Adnan Al Karim Memon lamented that the returning officers (ROs) appeared to have made unnecessary information as grounds for rejections.

Justice Memon expressed his indignation at the performance of the ROs, calling for action to be taken against them for unjustifiably rejecting the nomination papers.

Addressing a representative of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the judge asked were the ROs not trained before?

He also asked whether the electoral body took any action against the officers.

The director law stated that the ROs were given a three-day training, stating that the ECP had the authority to take action against any RO in case of wrongdoing on their behalf.

On the ROs' rejections in other areas of Sindh, Justice Khadim Hussain Tunio remarked that the nomination papers of powerful candidates were approved, while papers of those who were less influential were rejected.Appeal against Shehbaz Sharif rejected

The Election Tribunal rejected the appeal of PPP's Masood Khan Mandokhail against the acceptance of former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif's nomination papers from NA-242, Karachi.

Mandhokhail had challenged the PML-N president's acceptance of nomination papers for “hiding facts”.
Shehbaz’s counsel stated that the State Bank of Pakistan had been written to, clarifying that Shehbaz would not be withdrawing a salary, and had no tax liabilities.

Lahore
On the other hand, the appellate tribunal in Lahore annulled the decision of the RO and accepted nomination papers of Arsalan Hafeez, Sohail Afzal Mir, Hafiz Hamid Rizwan, Ammar Ali Jan, Sardar Haroon Ahmed Ali and Mian Azhar from NA-129.

However, the tribunal rejected Ibad Farooq's plea and upheld the RO's decision to reject the nomination papers.

Rawalpindi

In Rawalpindi, the Election Tribunal approved 13 appeals against the RO, while rejecting five. The appeals of Rehan Babar from PP-10, Colonel Ajmal Saber from NA-53, Ijaz Abbasi from PP-17, Umar Naveed Sati from PP-6 were accepted, while the appeals of Mian Khurram Rasool from NA-57 and Qamarul Haq from PP-16 were declined.

Peshawar
The election tribunals in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa accepted the appeals of 21 candidates, including Abu Tarab, Aftab Alam, Khurram Zeeshan, Sania Haider, while rejected those of Taimur Hassan from NA-31, Dost Muhammad Khan from NA-21 and Houria Khan from PK-83.

The Election Tribunal in Abbottabad accepted the appeal of K-P Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani against the decision of the RO, allowing him to contest the election from PK-45.