HYDERABAD, April 3: The assistant election commissioner and registration officer, Tharparkar, at Mithi, S. Ghazanfar Abbas, assured the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench, on Wednesday that the people, belonging to the Memon community, would be enrolled as eligible voters in case they approached the revising authorities with an affidavit that their names were not entered elsewhere.

His assurance followed a constitutional petition by Ghulam Hussain and others of Memon community of Diplo, Tharparkar, who said that their names had been left out deliberately by the assistant registration officer of Diplo at the insistence of the Naib Nazim of the union council.

State counsel Masood Noorani represented the registration officer (RO).

The RO stated that after verification that their names were not entered elsewhere, an order would be passed for their enrolment as per law.

Advocate Yusuf Leghari filed the constitutional petition on behalf of Ghulam Hussain Memon, a resident of Diplo town, Tharparkar, challenging non registration of over 1000 people, belonging to Memon community, by the assistant registration officer (ARO), Diplo.

The petitioner said that following announcement of the schedule of registration of votes in the area, the ARO was bound to receive forms through enumerators. In case any citizen was not enlisted, he could directly fill the form before the ARO and submit the same.

The same were thrown away in the dust bin as the ARO had political differences with the Memon community, the petitioner said.

The people of Diplo submitted a complaint before the district registration officer, who visited Diplo on Feb 9 and directed the petitioner and other citizens, whose names were not registered, to meet him at Mithi on Feb 10. The ARO was also bound down to be present at Mithi but he did not come.

The registration officer then directed the delegation to file fresh form of those persons, whose names were not enrolled in the voters’ lists.

The counsel prayed the court to declare that act of respondents of not entering votes of citizen of Pakistan residing at Diplo was in violation of the articles of constitution.

The assistant registration officer, Mohammad Saleh Kalar, denied charges against him saying that he had no political differences with the Memon community.