PESHAWAR, June 24: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday suspended an order of an election tribunal and admitted to full hearing a writ petition filed by a Nazim and Naib Nazim of the Union Council Maneri Bala, Swabi.

The bench, comprising Justice Tariq Pervaiz and Justice Ijaz Afzal, directed that the order of the election tribunal, through which the Nazim and Naib Nazim were unseated, should remain suspended till final disposal of the petition and the petitioners would act as Nazim and Naib Nazim.

The bench also issued notice to the rival party, who were declared Nazim and Naib Nazim by the tribunal a few days back.

During the local council elections held in 2001, the panel of the petitioners, Ghulam Hassan and Amir Nawab, received equal votes to that of their rival panel.

During re-counting by returning officer the number of votes remained-unchanged. Following that, the returning officer declared Ghulam Hassan and Amir Nawab elected as Nazim and Naib Nazim after a toss of a coin.

The rival panel challenged the decision of the returning officer before an election tribunal constituted by the Election Commission of Pakistan for hearing election disputes in Swabi.

The tribunal set aside the orders of the returning officer and declared the rival panel elected.

Advocate Saeed Baig appeared for the petitioner and argued that the election tribunal had no powers to decide issues which were not challenged by the petitioner.