KARACHI, Sept 7: The election appellate tribunal allowed on Saturday the appeals of three candidates against the rejection of their nomination papers for election to different seats of the National and Sindh assemblies.
The tribunal, comprising Justice Mohammed Roshan Essani and Justice Mohammed Moosa K. Leghari of the Sindh High Court, also dismissed an equal number of the appeals, filed by three other candidates against the rejection of their nomination papers by the respective returning officers.
The election appeals of Babu Lachman Manghwar, an independent candidate from PS-61, Tharparkar, Mohammed Saeed Siddiqui, a candidate of Muttahida Qaumi Movement from PS-113, Karachi, and Mir Mohammed Buledi of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal from PS-60, Tharparkar, were granted by the tribunal after hearing their counsel.
The nomination papers of Muhammed Saeed Siddiqui of the Muttahida from PS-113, represented by A. Iqbal Qadri, was rejected by the returning officer as he did not produce his original national identity card.
The papers of the Mir Mohammed, represented by S. M. Qureshi, was rejected as he had failed to establish his educational qualification. He submitted that he had studied at a madressah and his certificates were equivalent to a university degree.
The candidates, whose appeals against the rejection of their nomination papers were rejected, were Shaikh Irfan Aziz, a candidate of the Pakistan People’s Party (Shaheed Bhutto) from NA-253, Karachi, Khawaja Habibullah of the Millat Party from PS-18, Karachi, and Aamir Abdul Razzak Memon, a candidate of the Pakistan Freedom Party from PS-90, Karachi.
The nomination papers of Razzak, represented by Shams Panhwar, were rejected as he was found underage according to his NIC. However, he took pleas that his actual age was 26 and his NIC carried his incorrect age.
As many as 91 appeals challenging the rejection and acceptance of nomination papers of the candidates for election to the National and Sindh assemblies were filed with the election tribunal.
The Election Commission had on Tuesday set up two election tribunal for disposal of the appeals against the decisions of returning officers rejecting or accepting the nomination papers of the candidates for election to the national and the provincial assemblies in Sindh.
Prominent among those who filed appeals against the rejection of their nomination papers included Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and self-exiled chairperson of the PPP, Mian Ijaz Shafi of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Nabil Gabol of the PPP, and Abu Bakar Shaikhani of the PML (Q).