KARACHI, Feb 1: PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto has moved the Sindh High Court against the registration of two breakaway factions of her party, the Patriots and the Sherpao Group, on their merger as the Pakistan People's Party by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The former prime minister said the ECP had no authority to allow the merger of splinter groups and register them under the name of the parent party. The decision taken by the ECP on June 17, 2004, on an application moved by the two factions was violative of the principles of natural justice, the provisions of the Constitution and the Representation of People Act, she said.

It was also repugnant to the ECP's constitutional mandate to hold free, fair and impartial elections. The decision would confuse people as it was likely to mislead voters into believing that the defectors represented the real PPP, she said.

Besides the ECP, Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao of his own group of the party and Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal of the Patriots have been cited as respondents.

PPP secretary-general Jahangir Badr is the co-petitioner. The PPP's parliamentary party, which is led by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, is registered as the PPP Parliamentarians.

Ms Bhutto was disqualified from contesting the polls or leading the party in the October 2002 elections. Her petition against the disqualification is still pending.