Post-election litigation: ECP to hear CM’s plea for proceedings transfer today

Qaim Ali Shah had filed a petition to transfer case from the tribunal.

KARACHI:

The Election Commission of Pakistan will take up the plea of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah seeking transfer of proceedings initiated by the election tribunal today, the Sindh High Court was informed by the provinical election commissioner.

Last week, Qaim Ali Shah had sought transfer of the election appeal filed by his rival, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Syed Ghous Ali Shah, against his victory from the PS-29 constituency of Khairpur-I.

The election commission of Pakistan, the election tribunal’s district head and sessions judge (retd), Zaheeruddin Leghari, and Syed Ghous Ali Shah were cited as respondents in the plea.

The petitioner claimed that he had won from the provincial assembly’s seat PS-29, Khairpur, in the May 11 general elections on a ticket given by the Pakistan Peoples Party. The rival PML-N candidate, Ghous Ali Shah, who was defeated by the petitioner had filed an election petition with the tribunal against his election.

According to the PML-N candidate, Qaim Ali Shah had rigged the elections by pressuring and influencing his voters with the help of armed men. The tribunal was pleaded to disqualify Qaim Ali Shah for having violated the code of conduct announced by the election body for political parties during the general elections and order the ECP to de-notify him as member of the Sindh assembly.

The petitioner’s lawyers, Farooq H Naek, Malik Naeem Iqbal and Shazia Hanjrah, claimed that the rival candidate, instead of accepting defeat, had started victimising the petitioner by raising objections to his election.

They also claimed that the retired district and sessions judge, Zaheeruddin Leghari, who was heading the tribunal where the petition for the petitioner’s disqualification was pending, was a disciple of Pir Sahab Pagra, the head of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, an ally of PML-N in Sindh. After the preliminary hearing on August 17, the SHC bench had issued notice to the ECP, the election tribunal, Sukkur, Syed Ghous Ali Shah and the deputy attorney general for filing their comments by August 26. Meanwhile, the election tribunal at Sukkur was directed not to proceed with the election appeal.

On Monday, the provincial election commissioner informed the SHC bench that Qaim Ali Shah had filed an application with the Chief Election Commissioner requesting to transfer the election plea from the tribunal headed by DSJ Zaheeruddin Leghari. The election commission had heard the transfer application on August 20, and the same was fixed for hearing today (August 27).

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2013.