PHC moved to get PTI MNA Murad Saeed disqualified

PESHAWAR: A voter from the constituency of Member National Assembly (MNA) Murad Saeed on Wednesday filed a petition with the Peshawar High Court seeking his disqualification.
The voter, Haider Ali Shah, from Swat filed the writ petition through his lawyer Syed Haziq Ali Shah to seek the disqualification of Murad Saeed as MNA. It was submitted in the petition that under Section 12 (2) of the Representation of People Act 1976, every nomination paper shall accompany a declaration that the candidate fulfills the qualification specified in Article 62 of the Constitution.
It further clarified that the candidate, his spouse or any of his dependent has not defaulted on payment of government dues or utility charges at the time of filing papers.
The petitioner stated that Murad Saeed had defaulted on his hostel dues, which were Rs19,680 during 2007-2009. The petitioner further clarified that the PTI MNA misstated at the time of submitting nomination papers that he had obtained the BS Environmental Sciences degree.
“Murad Saeed was absent in two papers, Introduction to Environmental Sciences and Remote Sensing and Ecology,” the petition claimed. It added that as per the UoP examination rules a student, who fails to complete course and could not clear papers in three years, has to retake the exam. Therefore, Murad Saeed cannot legally appear in these papers after the lapse of three years.
It said that the PTI MNA gave false declaration under Section 12 of the RPA, 1976 and exposed himself to disqualification as envisage under Section 99 of the RPA 1976. The court was requested to declare the notification of Murad Saeed as elected representative of NA-29 as void and of no legal effect. The petitioner further prayed to declare Murad Saeed as dishonest and therefore disqualified to hold the public office of MNA.
As interim relief, the petitioner requested to suspend the operation of notification of successful candidature of Murad Saeed and holding the membership of parliament till the final decision of the case. The court, after preliminary hearing, clubbed the writ petition with the PTI MNA’s petition seeking his BS degree from UoP, which would be heard on April 30.