Election tribunal dismisses MQM-P MNA’s objections to Haleem Adil’s plea

An election tribunal of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday rejected an application filed by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MNA Sadiq Iftikhar seeking dismissal of an election petition against him on technical grounds.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Haleem Adil Sheikh had challenged the election results of the National Assembly constituency NA-238 Karachi East in which Iftikhar was declared as the returned candidate.

The MQM-P MNA’s counsel had sought rejection of the election petition under the sections 8 and 9 of the Election Act which state that instead of the election tribunal, applicants should approach the Supreme Court against the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the election matters.

He had also sought rejection of the election petition on a summary basis under the section 145(1) of the Election Act which stipulates that if any provision of the sections 142, 143 or 144 has not been complied with, the election tribunal shall summarily reject the election petition.

The PTI candidate’s counsel submitted that the petitioner had complied with the section 142 and others relevant sections of the Election Act at the time of the filing of his petition. The election tribunal headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha after hearing the arguments of the counsel turned down the objections raised by the respondent’s counsel with regard to compliance with the sections 8, 9 and 144 prior to the filing of the election petition.

The tribunal observed that the case of the application of the Section 9 (5) of the Election Act was not made out for approaching the SC. The tribunal observed that the election petition of the PTI candidate was maintainable and dismissed the MQM-P’s MNA plea.