HYDERABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party leader Syed Murad Ali Shah has been elected unopposed on a provincial assembly seat in Jamshoro (PS-73) after his rival candidates submitted their withdrawal applications before the returning officer of the constituency on Monday.

An official notification in this regard will be issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan. However, Returning Officer Imran Ahmed told Dawn that he had issued a public notice declaring Mr Shah as the returned candidate from the PS-73 constituency as uncontested.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Shah appeared before a two-member election tribunal comprising Justices Abdul Rasool Memon and Salahuddin Panwhar in response to a notice issued to him on an election appeal filed by his opponent, Roshan Ali Buriro of the Sindh United Party, challenging the acceptance of his nomination papers.

Mr Buriro withdrew his appeal on the directives of SUP president Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah.

Another candidate, Mohammad Qasim Bozdar, also withdrew his appeal and the appeal of a third candidate, Nisar Lund, was dismissed by the tribunal.

Other candidates, including Abdul Nabi Shah, who was Murad Shah’s covering candidate, Ghulam Sarwar Qureshi, Atta Mohammad and Habibullah Rind have already submitted their withdrawal applications before the RO.

Mr Shah, a former adviser to the chief minister, has been returning to the Sindh Assembly from the Jamshoro constituency PS-73 since its creation in the 2002 general elections. He got 36,466 votes in the 2002 elections and had secured 51,211 votes in the 2008 general elections. He had to resign from the assembly in November 2012 due to his dual nationality.

He was barred from contesting the 2013 general election as the Supreme Court wanted him to renounce his Canadian citizenship. He did it accordingly but at that time did not get the certificate regarding renouncement of his citizenship. He got the certificate in July last year, which he last week presented to the RO after scrutiny of his nomination form.

Shah downplays reports about next CM

Mr Shah evaded a direct reply when asked about widespread speculation that he would soon become the Sindh chief minister after replacing the octogenarian incumbent, Syed Qaim Ali Shah. “It’s an honour for me that I would become a member of this house [Sindh Assembly]. I consider everything else less than that.”

Talking to Dawn on the premises of the Sindh High Court Hyderabad circuit bench, Mr Shah explained that he was awarded a party ticket to become a member of the house as soon as the issue of his dual citizenship was cleared.

He said that his cousin, Abdul Nabi Shah, had resigned from his seat (PS-73) in line with the party decision and if the party asked him to resign he would abide by the decision too. “It shows the party’s faith in me. The leadership wants me in the assembly.”

He said that the withdrawal of SUP candidate Buriro in his favour was purely unconditional and a result of a family-level engagement.

About the situation in Thar he said: “There is poverty in Thar like other parts of the country. It’s easy to give verdicts on Thar while sitting in Karachi or Hyderabad or other cities. People should go to Thar to see how people travel from one place to other.

These people must go to Kohistan and see the level of poverty,” he added.

He said that the PPP government had done a lot in Thar with its available resources.Tis as sam

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2014