ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: Chief Election Commissioner Irshad Hasan Khan on Monday dismissed an election appeal moved against four women senators from Sindh on reserved seats by upholding the earlier decision of the returning officer, Karachi.

The appeal was moved by Mrs Maliha Malik under section 32 of the Senate (Elections Act) 1973 against women senators Rukhsana Zuberi (PPP), Bibi Yasmeen Shah (PML-Q), Abida Saif advocate (MQM) and Nighat Mirza (MQM).

The petitioner, through her counsel Iftikhar Asghar, had pleaded in her appeal that her votes were more than the votes of Mrs Nighat Mirza, but the returning officer had declared the latter successful after the closing of the Senate elections on February 24, 2003.

The short order of the CEC said that after recounting the ballot papers in the presence of two counsels, one representing Mrs Maliha Malik, and the other representing Mrs Abida Saif and Nighat Mirza, “the result declared by the returning officer on Feb 24, 2003, ...is hereby upheld.”