PESHAWAR, Oct 24: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court   on Wednesday directed its writ branch to club together all writ petitions through which disenfranchisement of women in different phases of the local bodies election has been challenged.

The bench, comprising Justice Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai and Justice Abdur Rauf Laghmani, issued the directive on a writ petition, filed by some two women, challenging barring of women from casting votes during the second phase of the poll in Mardan and Swabi districts.

The court said an earlier bench had issued directives for clubbing together all such writ petitions, but despite that the present petition had been fixed separately.

The court directed the writ branch to fix all the identical petitions together.

Former attorney general for Pakistan Qazi Muhammad Jamil and advocate Ali Jamil Qazi represented the petitioners in the court and contended that the petition was of an important nature and that it should be decided at the earliest.

The petition was filed by two women from the Bamkhela   Union Council of Swabi, Bakht Zarina and Mashooq Zari, who stated that they had forcefully been stopped from casting their votes.

They prayed to the court to declare the election null and void in all such union councils, where women had been barred from casting votes.

They said that all the candidates and notables of the area had entered into agreements through which they had decided not to allow any woman to cast vote.

They said they had placed on record a number of such agreements, and contended that casting vote was a constitutional right of every citizen.

On Oct 2, another division bench, comprising Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Khalida Rachied, admitted the instant petition to full hearing and fixed Oct 24 for the next hearing.

The Peshawar High Court bench issued a notice to the respondents and ordered clubbing together all identical petitions.