SHC ends stay order on proceedings against CM Sindh

Stay order was against tribunal that had ordered verification of voters in constituencies won by Qaim Ali Shah.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has ended its stay on proceedings regarding rigging allegations against Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and 12 others, Express News reported on Monday.

Qaim Ali Shah had earlier filed a petition to obtain a stay order against the order of a tribunal which had directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to verify thumb impressions of voters on ballots in the constituencies won by Shah in the 2013 elections.

However, the SHC said on Monday that the tribunal should proceed according to the law.

On June 25, the SHC further extended its stay against proceedings initiated before the Karachi, Sukkur and Hyderabad election tribunals regarding results of the election in various constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies.

A number of election petitions were pending before the SHC, wherein candidates belonging to different political parties assailed the orders passed by the election tribunals.

After a joint hearing of 13 petitions on May 27, the bench had ruled that its stay orders against the tribunals’ proceedings would be recalled and vacated by June 23, if the Supreme Court did not pass any order regarding the high court’s jurisdictions to entertain pleas against such proceedings.

The lawyers for the petitioners pleaded to the court to extend its stay order. Headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, the bench allowed the lawyers for the petitioners request to extend the stay order and extended it till today.