ISLAMABAD: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Monday filed two review petitions in the Supreme Court challenging its verdict calling for a fresh delimitation of constituencies in Karachi, DawnNews reported.

The petitions were filed by MQM leader Farooq Sattar at the Karachi registry of the Supreme Court.

Speaking to media representatives after filing the petitions, Sattar said delimitation could not be carried without holding a fresh census.

Questioning why the delimitation exercise was required to be Karachi-specific, Sattar said the MQM and its mandate were "being pushed to the wall".

Sattar added that the court's rulings of Nov 26 and Nov 28 were "in violation" of the Constitution and the law.

The MQM leader said the election commission had abandoned its previous stance on the matter, adding that, the process of fresh delimitation could only be done in accordance with the Constitution and not over "someone's wishes".

Sattar further said that fresh delimitation in Karachi without a census was "unconstitutional" and an injustice to the MQM.

On Nov 26, a five-member bench of the apex court had observed that constituencies in Karachi should be delimited in a manner that they comprise “mixed population” to avoid political polarisation.

During the same hearing, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali had referred to a recent judgment of the court that had identified wrong delimitation of the constituencies in Karachi as one of the major problems, asking the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to initiate the process of delimitation of constituencies in the city for the purpose of avoiding political polarisation and breaking the cycle of ethnic strife.

Later on Dec 2, MQM chief Altaf Hussain terming the ruling regarding fresh delimitation of constituencies in Karachi before a census an attempt to ‘snatch his party’s mandate’ had criticised the judges on the bench that had issued the order. The criticism was followed by the Supreme Court’s show-cause notice for contempt of court to Hussain in which summons had been issued for the MQM chief for Jan 7.