Tribunal dismisses appeals against acceptance of MQM-P leaders’ nomination papers

The Election Tribunal on Friday dismissed two appeals against the acceptance of the nomination papers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leaders Syed Mustafa Kamal and Arshad Vohra for the upcoming by-polls in two National Assembly constituencies in Karachi.

The MQM-P leaders had filed their nominations to contest the March 16 by-elections on NA-244 (Karachi East-III) and NA-247 (Karachi South-II) seats, which among nine NA seats had fallen vacant due to the resignations of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmakers.

In April, as many as 123 PTI lawmakers had resigned en mass after former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from his office through a no-confidence motion. Pervez Akhtar and Rana Zaki Shamsi submitted that Mustafa Kamal and Arshad Vohra were members of two political parties, the MQM-P and Pak Sarzameen Party, at the same time.

They submitted that respondents were chairman and vice chairman of the PSP, but they had filed their nomination papers from the platform of the MQM-P, which was a violation of the provisions of the Political Parties Act.

They requested the court to set aside the returning officer’s (RO) decision with regard to the acceptance of the respondent’s nomination papers under sections 202 and 203 of the Political Parties Act. The election tribunal headed by Justice Agha Faisal, after hearing arguments from the parties’ counsel, dismissed both the appeals as not maintainable.