Rejection of Fehmida, Zulfiqar Mirza’s nomination papers upheld

An appellate election tribunal on Monday dismissed the appeals of Grand Democratic Alliance leaders Dr Fehmida Mirza and Dr Zulfiqar Mirza against the rejection of their nomination papers filed for national and provincial assembly constituencies.

Former National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida had filed her appeal against the rejection of her nomination papers for NA-223 Badin. Her husband, former Sindh home minister Dr Mirza, had filed his appeal against the rejection of his nomination papers for PS-70, PS-71 and PS-72.

The appellants’ counsel said that his clients’ nomination papers were rejected on the grounds of a bank loan default in a 2003 case, which was unsubstantial under the law because they had not defaulted on the loan.

The counsel requested the tribunal to set aside the returning officers’ orders, and to direct them to accept his clients’ nomination papers for their respective constituencies.

After hearing the arguments of the counsel, the election tribunal headed by Justice Arshad Hussain Khan dismissed the appeals for reasons to be recorded later.

The election tribunal, however, allowed the appeal of Sohail Mansoor Khawaja against the rejection of his nomination papers for NA-250 Central Karachi. The appellant said his papers were rejected on the grounds of concealment of facts on behalf of his son to the tune of Rs222.35 million.

Khawaja said the RO had failed to consider that the amount was overdue by his son, not by him, because he had nothing to do with the business of his son. The tribunal observed that there was no loan outstanding against the appellant, and set aside the RO’s order, directing him to accept the nomination papers of the appellant.

The tribunal also granted the appeals of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidates Arzoo Faisal and Hasan Zaib, who had challenged the rejection of their nomination papers for PS-63 Hyderabad and PS-118 Karachi West.

The appellants had submitted that their papers were rejected by the ROs on the grounds of non-submission of utility bills clearance and bank account certificates, which was liable to be set aside. The election tribunal also rejected the appeal of Siddiq Mirza against the decision of an RO to reject his nomination papers for contesting the NA-241 seat in next month’s general elections.