Sindh High Court (SHC) Friday dismissed a petition against dual-nationality of Sindh's former chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah who is contesting Election to Sindh Assembly from Sehwan constituency as Pakistan Peoples Party's candidate
Roshan Ali had filed a petition in the court against ex-CM Shah to seeking his disqualification from electoral contest because of his alleged dual-nationality. Since Murad Ali Shah hasn't declared his dual-nationality in his nomination papers which he filed for contesting election, he should be declared disqualified for concealing it, the petitioner stated.
Shah's counsel contested Roshan's plea on the ground that the SHC's Hyderabad bench had already dismissed a petition filed by Jalal Mahmood Shah. He argued the petition is not maintainable. The court dismissed the petition. That means Murad Shah is cleared to participate in electoral-fray as PPP's contestant.
Meanwhile, SHC restrained Habib Jan Baloch to contest the election after it dismissed his appeal against the decision of Returning Officer (RO). Habib Jan had filed the nomination papers to contest election to National Assembly from Karachi's constituency NA-246 (Lyari) as an independent candidate against PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
The RO rejected his nomination papers because of his British nationality and Election Tribunal also upheld that decision. Habib Jan's counsel Khawaja Naveed Ahmed argued that his client submitted the passport to surrender his British nationality furnishing an application for this purpose. Khawaja requested the court to allow his client to contest the election against Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. However, SHC dismissed the appeal, restraining Habib Jan to contest election.
Disposing of another election-related petition, SHC allowed Haleem Adil Sheikh to contest from PS-99 after an appeal of Agriculture Development Bank against the approval of Sheikh's nomination papers by RO and election tribunal, had already been dismissed. The bank challenged the candidature of Sheikh because he was its defaulter of Rs 8 million agricultural loan and he didn't declare this loan in his nomination papers.
The court remarked that bank should have taken up the issue of loan default before RO when nomination papers were being processed for approval. The SHC asked why the bank didn't oppose his candidacy at the time when Sheikh was filing his nomination papers. It dismissed the petition and allowed Haleem Adil Sheikh to contest the election. Besides, SHC also rejected a petition of Mohammad Qasim against Ayaz Shah Shirazi and Riaz Shah Shirazi and allowed them to contest the election. Ayaz and his younger brother Riaz are Thatta-based PPP's nominated electoral contenders for National Assembly and Sindh Assembly seats.
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