PESHAWAR, Aug 26: The Peshawar High Court on Friday put on notice the Election Commission of Pakistan and the deputy attorney-general in a writ petition filed by 11 women challenging ban on female voters in the Swabi district.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Fazalur Rehman Khan and Justice Jehanzeb Raheem fixed Aug 30 for the next hearing.

The bench also issued notice to candidates for nazim and naib nazim as respondents in the petition on the charge of entering into an agreement for barring women from the polling process. The concerned returning officer was also put on notice.

The petition has been filed by Ms Marhama and 10 other female voters belonging to the union council Ismaila in the Swabi district where polling was held in the first phase of the local council election on Aug 18.

The petitioners said that elders and candidates had entered into an agreement whereby women were disenfranchised from the polling process.

They said they had gone to the polling station for casting vote, but were informed that no women polling would be held. Hundreds of women were barred from the polling process in their union council, they added.

Barrister Masood Kausar appeared for the petitioner and contended that it was the constitutional and legal right of women voters to exercise their right of franchise. He said stopping women from casting their votes was an unconstitutional act on the part of the respondents, including the concerned contestants.

The petitioners requested the high court to declare the elections in their union council null and void and to declare the barring of women from the voting process as unconstitutional.