September 27, 2002	Friday	Rajab 19, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 26: The Supreme Court allowed on Thursday Maqbool Shaikh, former Sindh food minister and PML(Q) candidate from Shikarpur (NA 202), to contest election.

The permission to contest election is provisional and if his petition, which has been admitted for hearing, is rejected his election result will also be affected.

The nomination papers of PML(Q) candidate were rejected on the ground that his case was pending in the sessions courts in which he had been declared absconder.

Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, counsel for the petitioner, said his client appeared before the sessions courts and he was granted bail on Sept 9, 2002.

When he filed appeal before the Election Tribunal, it held that the returning officer was wrong to ignore the conviction of the petitioner by the Accountability Court, even if it might have been suspended.

The Election Tribunal was of the view that suspension of the sentence by the Appellate Court did not mean that the conviction stood set aside, and held that the petitioner was not eligible to contest the election till the time his conviction was set aside.

The petitioner approached the Sindh High Court under its writ jurisdiction, which, too, upheld the decision of the Election Tribunal.

The Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice Qazi Mohammad Farooq, Justice Rana Bhagwandas and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, granted leave to appeal and allowed the petitioner to contest election provisionally, subject to the decision of the court on his petition.