ISLAMABAD, Feb 24: Two different decisions by Election Tribunals, one in Sindh and the other in Punjab, on identical grounds of possessing fake degrees , has generated a new controversy that the application of the same federal law varies from province to province.
The Election Tribunal of Sindh, disqualified Mohammad Khan Junejo, a PML(F) MNA, Sanghar on the complaint of PPP candidate Fida Hussain Dero, for allegedly possessing a fake BA degree. His request for declaring him as MNA in place of Mohammad Khan Junejo was turned down.
On February 16, 2004 the Election Tribunal Punjab accepted the petition of Haroon Akhtar Khan, PML(QA) candidate and declared him winner in place of PML(N) MPA Sheikh Amjad Aziz whose degree was declared as bogus. Haroon Akhtar Khan is the brother of federal minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, and son of late General Akhtar Abdur Rehman, ISI chief.
Raja Shafqat Abbasi, a Supreme Court advocate, and Member Punjab Assembly, said the Election Tribunal Punjab decision on the petition of a ruling party candidate, was unprecedented. "There is not a single case in which a defeated person, has ever been declared winner by an Election Tribunal".
He said the alacrity shown by the Election Commission in the case of Haroon Akhtar Khan, is baffling. In the case of Haroon Akhtar Khan, the Election Commission moved so swiftly that it notified him as MPA in less than 24 hours.
But in the case of an MNA from Sanghar, the Election Commission, even after the passage of one week, has not issued a notification declaring the seat vacant or giving it to the PPP candidate who, like Haroon, had polled the second largest number of votes, he said.
The Supreme Court which was approached in both the cases, upheld the Election Tribunal decisions. On the appeal of Mohammad Khan Junejo, the SC upheld the Election Tribunal Sindh decision, and ordered for fresh election in Sanghar.
The SC, approached by disqualified Punjab MPA, Sheikh Amjad Aziz, refused to restrain the authorities from giving oath to Haroon Akhtar Khan as MPA till the time his appeal against the Election Tribunal Punjab was finally decided, saying that a constituency could not be left un represented.