PHOTO: MOHAMMAD NOMAN/EXPRESS
PESHAWAR: An election tribunal on Thursday disqualified member of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly Malik Behram Khan of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) from PK-93 Upper Dir over ‘fake’ graduation degree and ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold fresh elections in the constituency.
Tribunal Judge Shah Jee Rehman Khan found that the cancellation of BA degree of Malik Behram is valid by the University of Malakand on the basis of impersonation. Sahibzada Sanaullah of Pakistan People Party (PPP) had challenged the election of JI’s MPA in May 2013 general elections.
Read: Voicing reservations: PTI candidate challenges PPP elect’s victory in tribunal
Sanaullah had earlier filed a petition in the election tribunal but it was dismissed and the matter was referred to the University of Malakand. Later, the university constituted a special committee and found the degree was ‘fake’.
Behram then appealed against the decision in the Peshawar High Court’s Mingora Bench (Darul Qaza) which granted interim relief to the MPA. However, on April 10 a bench comprising Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain and Justice Haider Ali Khan upheld the decision of the cancellation of Behram’s degree.
The JI leader subsequently approached the Supreme Court against the decision which had maintained the decision of fake degree.
“We have produced the orders of both high court and apex court which had declared the MoU report of cancellation of degree is valid. Two different people appeared in the examination and there was different hand writing on admission forms” Qazi Jawad Ihsanullah, counsel of Sanaullah, told The Express Tribune.
Read: Electoral fraud: Tribunal dismisses petition against CM
Malik Behram had sealed his victory in 2013 general elections by securing 13,580 votes while Sahibzada Sanaullah had secured 9,799 votes.
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