PESHAWAR, Sept 13: An election tribunal on Friday dismissed two appeals of Umer Ayub, son of PML-QA leader Gohar Ayub. Mr Umer had challenged the acceptance of the nomination papers of a former NWFP chief minister, Pir Sabir Shah, and another candidate Sheharyar Khan for NA-19, Haripur, constituency.

The decision was pronounced by Justice Tariq Pervaiz of the Peshawar High Court. Justice Pervaiz was a referee judge as the chief election commissioner referred the appeals to him after a two-member election tribunal had given a split verdict on the appeals.

Mr Umer had claimed that Pir Sabir, provincial chief of the PML-N, had concealed some of his assets while filing his papers. He had said that about 20 kanals of land was not mentioned in the PML leader’s papers.

Advocate Abdul Samad Khan appeared for Pir Sabir and argued that while filling out papers the said piece of land had been left out erroneously.

Advocate Abdul Basit appeared for Mr Umer and stated that they had raised the same objection before the returning officer, but the RO overruled it. He contended that if a person concealed his properties he stood disqualified to contest polls.

About Sheharyar Khan, a leader of the PML(Chattha), the counsel contended that his detailed marks certificate was fake. Moreover, the counsel stated, he had also not mentioned one kanal of land in his nomination papers.

The court verified the said certificate from the concerned university and pronounced that it was genuine.

APPEALS DISMISSED: The election tribunal, comprising Justice Abdur Rauf Lughmani and Justice Ijaz Afzal, dismissed two appeals of Usman Bilour, son of ANP leader Bashir Bilour, against a candidate of PPP (Sherpao), Aurangzeb Mohmand for NA-1 and PF-3, Peshawar.

The appellant had stated that the respondent (Mr Mohmand) was a loan defaulter and under the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002, and Representation of Peoples Act he was not qualified to contest polls. The appellant claimed that the concerned returning officers ignored that point and accepted Mr Mohmand’s papers.

The respondent’s counsel contended that under the law a ceiling of Rs2 million was given for a defaulter and only those persons could be disqualified who were defaulters of Rs2 million or more. He added that Mr Mohmand was not in that category and thus his papers could not be turned down.

APPEALS DECIDED: The election tribunal at the Peshawar High Court disposed of all the appeals filed before it.

About 77 appeals were instituted out of which 23 were accepted while the rest were dismissed.