• Tribunal allows two sons of Fehmida Mirza to contest polls
• SHC dismisses petition against candidature of PTI’s Firdous Naqvi

KARACHI: An election tribunal on Tuesday dismissed another appeal against acceptance of the nomination papers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif and allowed him to contest the Feb 8 election from a Karachi National Assembly constituency (NA-242 Keamari-I).

The tribunal, headed by Justice Arshad Hussain Khan of the Sindh High Court, rejected the election appeal filed by a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf candidate after hearing parties concerned and upheld the decision of the returning officer (RO).

Citing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), district returning officer (DRO), RO and Mr Sharif as respondents, Mr Chohan submitted that he had filed objections against the nomination papers of PML-N president, but the RO did not give any heed to them.

The appellant contended that Mr Sharif had submitted his nomination paper on Dec 22, 2023 in which he allegedly concealed several facts, showed incorrect assets details, etc.

The appellant submitted that the impugned order was passed by the RO in a hasty manner without considering his objections.

Alleging that the PML-N president could not be considered as ‘sadiq and ameen’ in terms of Article 62 of the Constitution due to misdeclaration, he pleaded to set aside the order of the RO and reject the nomination papers of Mr Sharif.

However, the tribunal dismissed his appeal and maintained the RO’s order.

On Monday, another election tribunal had dismissed an appeal filed by a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate against acceptance of nomination papers of the former prime minister.

Fehmida’s sons allowed to contest polls

The same tribunal on Tuesday allowed the appeals of Hasnain Mirza and Hassam Mirza, sons of Dr Fehmida and Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, against rejection of their nomination papers from PS-70 (Badin-III) and NA-223 (Badin-II), respectively.

On Monday, an election tribunal had dismissed the appeals of their parents and maintained the decision of the ROs who had rejected the couple’s nomination papers from NA-223, PS-70, PS-71 and PS-72.

The tribunal also turned down an appeal filed against the candidature of former provincial minister and PPP leader Saeed Ghani.

Appellant Arsalan Khan, said to be a voter of the PS-105, filed the appeal after the RO had accepted the nomination papers of the PPP leader.

Petition of MQM-P candidate dismissed

The SHC on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed against the candidature of PTI leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi.

Initially, the RO had dismissed the nomination papers of Mr Naqvi from NA-236 (Karachi East-II) after his rival candidate filed objections. On Jan 4, an election tribunal had allowed the appeal of the PTI leader and overturned the decision of RO.

However, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s candidate Hassan Sabir, who had submitted objections before the RO, filed a petition against the order of the election tribunal.

After hearing arguments from both sides, a two-judge SHC bench headed by Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudary dismissed the petition.

Meanwhile, the same bench on Tuesday allowed another PTI candidate to contest the Feb 8 general elections.

Dr Masroor Sial filed two petitions against the decisions of the election tribunal for rejecting his appeals against the orders of the ROs.

The ROs had rejected his papers from NA- 230 (Malir-I) and NA-231 (Malir-II) and subsequently, the tribunal had also turned down his appeals.

The division bench allowed both the petitions and overturned the orders of tribunals.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2024