SHC seeks comments on plea for Murad’s disqualification

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and former provincial chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on a petition seeking Shah’s disqualification over failing to disclose his Canadian nationality as well as his possession of a UAE-based Iqama.

Petitioner Roshan Ali Buriro submitted in the petition that Shah was declared a returned candidate from the provincial assembly constituency PS-73 (Dadu-cum-Jamshoro) in a 2014 by-election.

Buriro said that after becoming a lawmaker, the Pakistan Peoples Party leader had concealed his possession of a UAE-based Iqama and his employment as a supervisor at a private hotel in the Emirate of Ajman as well as the certificate for surrendering his Canadian nationality in his statement of assets and liabilities.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that after the concealment of the above-mentioned facts, Shah can be considered neither righteous nor sagacious in terms of Article 63 of the Constitution, and so he is liable to be disqualified from holding public office or becoming a member of the parliament.

The ECP’s counsel Maimona Nasreen told the court that if a person files his nomination form declaring his dual nationality, the same is to be checked by the returning officer, while the Federal Investigation Agency also circulates a list of dual nationals to returning officers. She requested time to file comments on the petition.

After the preliminary hearing of the petition, the SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar issued notices to the former provincial chief executive, the ECP and others, calling for their comments to be filed on June 25.  

Delimitations

The SHC also reserved its judgment on petitions against the preliminary delimitations of provincial assembly constituencies in Jamshoro. Jalal Mehmood Shah and other petitioners had challenged the preliminary delimitations of the PS-80, PS-81 and PS-82 constituencies in Jamshoro by the delimitation commissioner.

The petitioners’ counsel said the preliminary delimitations of the provincial assembly constituencies in Jamshoro were challenged before the ECP through representation, contending that the delimitation commissioner failed to follow the mandatory guidelines under Section 20 of the Election Act that highlighted the principles of delimitations.

The petitioners said that it is clearly mentioned in the election laws that during the preparation of draft proposals for delimitations of constituencies, the delimitation committee shall follow the principles of delimitations and guidelines provided by the ECP from time to time.

They said they have raised several grounds for the purpose of delimitations of their respective constituencies, but the same were rejected by the ECP without consideration and their representation was dismissed.

They claimed that delimitations of constituencies have been made in favour of a particular group of candidates, which negates the principles of law as well as fair and transparent elections.

They requested the court to set aside the preliminary delimitations and direct the ECP to issue the notification of preliminary delimitations after considering the objections and proposals of the petitioners in conformity with the election laws.

The ECP’s counsel submitted that the objections raised against delimitations were not maintainable because the delimitations of the constituencies in question were done in accordance with the provisions of the election and delimitation laws.

He said that all the constituencies in the said districts have a well connected communication system, as they all cover major Tehsils/Talukas of the district and every Tehsil is a well settled administrative unit with all communications available.

The counsel submitted that the delimitations were made in accordance with Section 20 of the Election Act, and no violation of or deviation from the established laws and rules have been committed during the course of the delimitations. After hearing the arguments of the counsel, the high court’s division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar reserved the court’s judgment on the petitions.