LAHORE, March 15: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday dismissed as having become in fructuous two writ petitions through which rival candidates had challenged the opponent’s qualification to contest for the Senate as a technocrat.

Comprising Justice Sheikh Abdur Rashid and Justice Sarfraz Javed Sheikh, the division bench ruled that the petitions raised an election dispute, and both the petitioners should now agitate their grievances before an election tribunal which has since been constituted following the election to the Senate. The high court had lost the jurisdiction of adjudicating election matters after the constitution of tribunals, the court held.

Haroon Akhtar Khan, who was elected as a senator as a ruling PML candidate, and the PPP nominee Dr Syed Israr Husain Shah, moved the LHC in separate writ petitions challenging each other’s qualification as a candidate to the specialised seat in the Senate.

Dr Israr Shah’s counsel Raja Abdur Rehman submitted before the court that the petition was filed in the middle of last month and was heard by a single bench on Feb 16 for the first time. Later, two division benches refused to entertain the petition and each time a reference was made to the LHC chief justice for the constitution of another bench.

Advocates Mian Hanif Tahir and Iftikhar Shahid assisted Mr Rehman, while Advocate Ejaz Awan appeared on behalf of Haroon Akhtar Khan.