Farooq Sattar, Fehmida Mirza allowed to contest polls

Dr Farooq Sattar and Dr Fehmida Mirza’s petitions challenging the rejection of their nomination forms to contest for National Assembly constituencies in the July 25 general elections were accepted on Tuesday.

An election tribunal allowed Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Sattar’s petition against the rejection of his nomination paper for NA-245 and allowed him to contest the polls.

His counsel Syed Mehmood Alam Rizvi said the returning officer had rejected his form on the basis of registration of two FIRs that were not in the knowledge of the petitioner, and he had later obtained protective bail in those cases.

Rizvi said the petitioner did not conceal any fact in his nomination paper, and requested that the court accept it. After the perusal of the FIRs and the bail orders, the tribunal allowed the appeal and set aside the returning officer’s order.

The tribunal also allowed Grand Democratic Alliance leader and former NA speaker Fehmida’s petition against the rejection of her nomination form for a reserved seat for women in the lower house of the parliament.

Fehmida, a former Pakistan People Party leader, said the returning officer had rejected her nomination paper on the grounds that the State Bank had listed Mirza Sugar Mills, in which she is a minor shareholder, as a loan defaulter.

She said the returning officer had accepted her form for NA-230 and the provincial assembly constituencies of PS-73 and PS-74 after overruling the loan objections. An election tribunal and a full bench of the Sindh High Court had ruled in her favour ahead of the previous general elections when a similar issue was raised, she added.

A day earlier, the election tribunal had allowed Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leader Asadullah Bhutto to contest the upcoming elections from NA-242 in Karachi. Bhutto had challenged the rejection of his nomination paper by the returning officer on the grounds of a loan default in an agricultural company.

His counsel submitted that the petitioner had no direct nexus with the company and his name had been cleared by the State Bank. He requested that the court set aside the returning officer’s order and allow him to contest the elections.

The tribunal also allowed the petition of PPP leader Abdul Qadir Patel, and directed the returning officer to accept his nomination form for NA-248. Patel’s nomination form was rejected for not declaring his properties in an affidavit submitted to the returning officer.

The tribunal, however, rejected a petition against the acceptance of the nomination paper of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat leader Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi for PS-91. The petitioner, Rashid Rizvi, said the respondent belonged to a banned sectarian outfit and was involved in a number of cases, so his nomination paper should be rejected.

This past Saturday the election tribunal had issued notices to a returning officer, the election commission and others on a petition filed by Sattar against the rejection of his nomination form for the NA-245 constituency.

The tribunal had also allowed a petition of MQM-P leader Khawaja Izharul Hasan, and directed the returning officer to accept his nomination form for the NA-243 constituency. Hasan’s counsel Farogh Naseem said the returning officer of NA-242 had not transferred his nomination form to NA-243 after the candidate mistakenly submitted it to him.