KARACHI, Dec 26: PPP candidates Dr Zulfiqar Ali Mirza and his wife, Dr Fahmida Mirza, were allowed on Wednesday to contest polls from the Badin national and provincial constituencies of NA-225 and PS-57.

Agreeing with their counsel, Anwar Mansoor Khan, a three-member bench of the Sindh High Court held that as directors or executives or shareholders of the Mirza Sugar Mills, the candidates were not defaulters in contemplation of the disqualification provisions of Article 63 of the Constitution, the Election Order of 2002 or the Representation of People Act, 1976. As for the allegation that Dr Z.A. Mirza was an absconder in former Pakistan Steel chairman Sajjad Hussain’s murder case, the bench, which consisted of Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justices Mrs Qaiser Iqbal and Mahmood Ali Rizvi, ruled that a conviction was essential to render a candidate ineligible.

The arguments commenced at 9.30 am and continued till 3.30 pm when the bench announced its decision. The bench also heard arguments in the petitions moved by the doctor couple and Sohail Akbar Mirza against the eligibility of their PML (Q) rivals Syed Ali Bakhsh Shah alias Papu Shah and his wife, Senator Yasmin Shah. It reserved its order for announcement on Thursday on the authenticity of their academic degrees, which has been impeached by the PPP contestants. PPP candidate Zulfiqar Behan’s petition against the candidature of National People’s Party nominee Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi from a Naushahro Feroze national constituency will also be heard and disposed of tomorrow.

The legal battle between the Badin couples started on Nov 26 when they challenged one another’s eligibility before the returning officer. The RO accepted the nomination papers of all four candidates leaving them to fight it out on the hustings. The candidates, however, continued their battle in the high court by moving election petitions. An election tribunal comprising two SHC judges cleared all the contestants except Dr Z.A. Mirza for being an absconder. Shujaat Ali Shah, a cover candidate for the Shahs, challenged the tribunal’s order in respect of default, and the Mirzas went in appeal against its verdict on academic certificates.

Advocate Anwar Mansoor Khan argued that directors of a public limited company were not personally liable for loans obtained by it. They were not even majority shareholders. Besides, the decree against their sugar mill has been superseded by a settlement. Contesting the claim, Advocate Shahab Sarki argued on behalf of the petitioner that no amount has been paid under the settlement and that the creditor banks have gone into execution of the decree.

The counsel for the PML (Q) candidates defended the authenticity of the degrees produced by them. He said Senator Yasim Shah was a member of the upper house of parliament and her eligibility was beyond any doubt. Advocate A.M. Khan argued that the degrees were bogus and that university that awarded them was non-existent. The matter would be conclusively settled on Thursday.

Meanwhile, PPP candidate Saeed Ghani was held ineligible for being a sitting union council nazim. The tribunal and the full bench upheld the returning officer’s decision that a nazim must resign his local government office before filing his nomination papers for a national or provincial assembly constituency.