Appeals of Zulfiqar, Fahmida Mirza, Sarwat Qadri, Aurangzeb Farooqui rejected

The election tribunal in Karachi rejected on Monday the appeals filed against rejection of nomination papers of political leaders including Grand Democratic Alliance's (GDA) Zulfiqar and Fahmida Mirza, Pakistan Sunni Tehreek President Sarwat Ejaz Qadri and Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party candidate Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi. The tribunal granted independent candidates Mohsin Nisar Pahnwar from PS 85, Aftab Bakai from PS 91, Muhammad Irfan from PS 98, Anwar Tareen from NA 242, MQM candidate Arshad Vohra from NA 240, PTI candidates Hasna Nadeem from PS 116, Amjad Khan from PS 116, Hassan Zaib from PS 118, Arzu Faisal from PS 63 Hyderabad and Imran from PS 116 the permission to contest elections. Nomination papers were also accepted of PTI candidate Abdul Qayyum from PS 118, Shahzad Hussain Shah of Tehreek-e-Labbaik from PS 113, Mustafa Ameer from PS 75 Thatta were approved. The election tribunal also accepted the appeal of independent candidate Advocate Johar Abid after annulling the RO's initial decision. 'Action against ROs' Taking exception to the high number of rejections, head of the election tribunal Justice Adnan Al Karim Memon of the Sindh High Court (SHC) lamented that the returning officers (ROs) appeared to have made unnecessary information as grounds for rejections. Memon expressed his indignation at the performance of the ROs, calling for action to be taken against them for unjustifiably rejecting nomination papers. Addressing a representative of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the judge asked whether the ROs were not trained before? He further asked if the electoral watchdog took any action against the officers? Read Election tribunal clears nomination of PTI’s Fazal Qureshi The director law officer stated that the ROs were given a three-day training, stating that the ECP had the authority to take action against any RO in case of wrongdoing on their behalf. Commenting on the ROs' rejections in other areas of Sindh, Justice Khadim Hussain Tunio of the SHC remarked that the nomination papers of powerful candidates were approved, while papers of those who were less influential were rejected. Appeal against Shehbaz Sharif rejected The election tribunal rejected the appeal of PPP's Masood Khan Mandokhail against the acceptance of former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif's nomination papers from NA-242, Karachi. Mandhokhail had challenged the PML-N leader's acceptance of nomination papers for 'hiding facts'. Shehbaz Sharif's counsel stated that the State Bank of Pakistan had been written to, clarifying that Shehbaz will not be withdrawing a salary, and has no tax liabilities. Lahore On the other hand, the appellate tribunal in Lahore annulled the decision of the RO and accepted nomination papers of Arsalan Hafeez, Sohail Afzal Mir, Hafiz Hamid Rizwan, Ammar Ali Jan, Sardar Haroon Ahmed Ali, and Mian Azhar from NA-129. However, the tribunal rejected Ibad Farooq's plea and upheld the RO's decision to reject the nomination papers. Rawalpindi In Rawalpindi, the Election Tribunal approved 13 appeals against the RO, while rejecting five. The appeals of Rehan Babar from PP 10, Colonel Ajmal Saber from NA 53, Ijaz Abbasi from PP 17, Umar Naveed Sati from PP 6 were accepted, while the appeals of Mian Khurram Rasool from NA 57 and Qamarul Haq from PP 16 were declined. Peshawar The election tribunals accepted the appeals of 21 candidates including Abu Tarab, Aftab Alam, Khurram Zeeshan, Sania Haider, while rejecting the appeals of Taimur Hassan from NA-31, Dost Muhammad Khan from NA-21 and Houria Khan from PK 83. The election tribunal in Abbottabad accepted the appeal of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani against the decision of the RO and allowed him to contest the election from PK-45.

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