KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and others in the pleas of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Saifullah Abro and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Rauf Siddiqui’s challenging an election tribunal’s orders declaring them ineligible for Senate technocrat seats.
Abro, in his plea, told the court in the hearing that the tribunal issued the verdict on his nomination papers without considering the “facts”.
The PTI leader maintained that he meets all the requirements required from a person willing to contest the Senate elections on a technocrat seat and requested the court to declare the tribunal’s ruling illegal and allow him to contest the Senate elections.
Abro was declared ineligible for the Senate election by an election tribunal after his nomination papers that had been accepted by the returning officer (RO) were challenged.
In its verdict, the tribunal declared the verdict of the RO null and void and ruled that Abro cannot contest the Senate polls.
“The objections raised by the petitioners were proved true, and Saifullah Abro does not fulfill the requirement of a technocrat,” the order had stated.
Meanwhile, Rauf Siddiqui, whose papers were rejected by a returning officer, appealed to the court to overturn the decision and let him contest the Senate polls.
The tribunal had earlier disqualified Rauf from contesting the Senate elections on Monday.
Rauf’s appeal against the returning officer’s decision to declare him ineligible was rejected by the Election Tribunal as his lawyers could not come up with a satisfactory explanation for his eligibility.
The RO had rejected the nomination papers filed by Rauf Siddiqui on the grounds that he had not completed 16 years of education, which is a prerequisite for contesting candidates.
Rauf’s nomination papers were rejected the same day as that of Saifullah Abro’s.
The SHC bench admitted the pleas of Abro and Siddiqui and issued notices to the ECP and others to come up with replies in the hearing on Thursday.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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