KARACHI, May 24: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement candidates challenged on Monday the withholding of the May 12 by-election results by the Election Commission and requested the Sindh High Court to order their announcement without further delay.
Petitioners M. Abid Ali Umang, Abdul Wasim, Nisar Ahmed Panhwar and Yousaf Munir Shaikh, who contested the by-polls from NA-240, NA-243, NA-246 and PS-127, respectively, submitted through Advocates Nawab Mirza and Saifuddin that under Article 225 of the constitution, no election to an assembly can be called into question except by an election petition presented to a tribunal in accordance with the Representation of People Act. No constituency can be allowed to remain unrepresented and by-polls are required to be held and results declared within the prescribed time.
By withholding the results, which had been compiled and consolidated on May 12 in accordance with the law, the petitioners maintained, the Election Commission had failed to discharge its duty under Section 42 of the Representation of People Act.
The results were withheld without any notice to them or giving them an opportunity of hearing. If the alleged by-poll irregularities were relatable to polling, an election tribunal was required to be constituted by the Election Commission but if they pertained to administrative lapses, the EC had no power or jurisdiction to withhold the results.
The petitioners claimed that powers under Section 103-AA of the RPA were not meant to be exercised in contravention of constitutional provisions and the Act itself. Besides, any action under the section could be taken by the whole commission and not by the chief election commissioner or any of its members singly.
It was not clear whether the inquiry under the provision was to be held by the authorized member, by the CEC or by the commission. The EC, however, had no authority to act as an election tribunal. The petition is fixed for hearing on May 26.
PLEAS DISMISSED: Justice Mohammad Sadiq Leghari of the Sindh High Court dismissed on Monday, in his capacity as a member of the Election Commission of Pakistan, two petitions moved against the Saddar town nazim.
Petitioners Mohammad Siddique Balwani and Muhammad Arif alleged that the nazim, Farooq Memon Faria, had submitted a false declaration concealing his assets at the time of filing his nomination papers. He had thus rendered himself disqualified not only from contesting the polls but also from holding any office in the local government.
They prayed that the nazim be unseated and the candidate who obtained the second highest number of votes should be declared elected to the office. Contesting the petition through Advocate Kamal Azfar, the nazim denied the allegations.
He maintained that the petitions were moved with ulterior motives and were based on baseless and concocted charges to subvert the voters' verdict in his favour.
EX-ETOs' get bail: Justice Mohammad Moosa K. Laghari of the Sindh High Court on Monday granted pre-arrest bail to two former excise and taxation officers, declared proclaimed offender by the trial court in a NAB reference, and issued notice to the deputy prosecutor-general of NAB for May 31, adds PPI.
The court ordered that the petitioners should not be arrested if they furnished their sureties in the sum of Rs1 million each. Abdul Majeed Pathan and Niaz Baloch were declared proclaimed offenders by an accountability court in 2001 in a corruption reference.