Nomination papers of Zulfiqar Mirza, Fahmida Mirza, two sons rejected

HYDERABAD: The nomination forms of former provincial minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza from Badin, former National Assembly speaker Fahmida Mirza and Muhammad Khan Junejo from the Sanghar district have been rejected.

GDA leader Dr Fahmida Mirza, her husband Zulfiqar Mirza, and their sons Hasnain and Hassam Mirza had submitted their nomination papers from NA 223, Badin district.

Haji Rasool Bakhsh Chandio, the expected candidate from NA 223 of the Pakistan Peoples Party, submitted objections to the nomination papers of the Mirza family.

Rasool Bakhsh Chandio claimed in his objections to the returning officer that the Mirza family is indebted to banks, on which RO Muhammad Nawaz announced the verdict on the Mirza family's forms on Saturday.

According to the decision issued by the Returning Officer NA-223 Badin Nawaz Kunbhar, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, Dr Fahmida Mirza, Hasnain Mirza, and Hassam Mirza are bank defaulters in the list of the State Bank obtained from the Election Commission of Pakistan, so their forms are rejected.

In the order issued by the RO, it has been written that the papers submitted by Dr Zulfikar Mirza, Dr Fahmida Mirza, Hasnain Mirza, and Hassam Mirza do not prove that they have paid the loan of the bank. Therefore, their forms have been rejected

On the other hand, the nomination papers of Muhammad Khan Junejo, the expected candidate of the GDA from constituency NA 209 Sanghar 1, were rejected by the returning officer.

Four people had filed objections against Junejo on the basis of a fake degree case. In the objections, Junejo is shown ineligible for life in the fake degree case, and he cannot contest in the elections. The petitioners are voters of NA-209 and the objections were filed with the help of lawyers provided by the PPP and Shazia Marri.

The returning officer NA-209, while giving a detailed decision consisting of eight attributes, has written that in 2002, Junejo participated in the general election from NA-236 Sanghar under a fake degree and won. Junejo's opponent Fida Hussain Dero filed the fake degree case with the Election Tribunal. The Election Tribunal on January 16, 2004 declared the degree of Junejo as fake. It should be noted that in 2002, it was mandatory for a candidate for the national and provincial assemblies to have a graduation degree to contest in the elections.

The returning officer wrote on the life-long disqualification of Junejo's fake degree that after he submitted the nomination form from PS 81 Sanghar, an objection for disqualification was also raised against him, and in view of the legal background and decisions, the form cannot be restored.