25 dissident PTI MPAs’ deseating: SC takes up pleas against ECP verdict next week

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) will take up next week the petitions challenging the decision of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-seating 25 dissident MPAs, who had voted for PMLN’s Hamza Shehbaz in the Punjab chief minister’s election.

A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial, and comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ayesha A Malik, would resume hearing of identical petitions, challenging the ECP decision on Nov 9.

Mohsin Ata Khosa, a dissident PTI Member Provincial Assembly, who was elected from PP-288 Dera Ghazi Khan (Punjab) on the party ticket, had filed an appeal in the SC against the ECP decision. Similarly, other petitioners have also challenged the ECP decision in the SC. The ECP had announced on May 20 a unanimous verdict, de-seating 25 dissident MPAs by voting for PMLN’s Hamza Shehbaz in the Punjab chief minister’s election. Likewise, a three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial, would resume hearing on Nov 8 in the bail application of Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani in a reference, filed by NAB for accumulating assets through illegal means. According to NAB, Siraj Durrani had accumulated assets worth Rs1.6 billion through illegal means while his family allegedly owned properties worth billions.