KARACHI, May 24: Sensing a plot to deprive the Pakistan Peoples Party of its majority in the Sindh Assembly, former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said on Friday that the top leadership of his party was in contact with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to form a coalition government.

Without naming any other party, Mr Shah told a press conference at the Karachi Press Club that the PPP could hold talks on the formation of a coalition government with any other party having the mandate of the people.

Perturbed over the grant of stay orders by the Sindh High Court against the results announced by returning officers (ROs) mainly in favour of PPP candidates, he said it was against the election rules which clearly said that after the announcement of the result the rival candidate could seek a remedy by approaching an election tribunal. The rival candidate could only approach the high court if not satisfied with the outcome of his appeal by the election tribunal, he added.

He said some rival candidates directly approached the high court, where they were given a stay order without the other party being heard.

He also referred to an apex court judgement on a petition about vote rigging in election in which the aggrieved party was asked to go to the election tribunal. “The high court also ought to follow suit by sending petitioners to election tribunals for relief.”

He said the results of May 11 election should not be tempered with as there was enough sense of deprivation in Sindh. “This sense of deprivation among people should not be allowed to touch the level of Balochistan by changing the results announced by the ROs.”

Mr Shah, who is the president of the PPP’s Sindh chapter, said that all withheld results should also be made public at the earliest.

Responding to a question, he said the PPP leadership had given due recognition to the people’s mandate for the sake of the constitution and democracy despite having reservations on the election results in Punjab and elsewhere. He said the results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan clearly indicated that the PPP got a majority in Sindh. “Our leadership and the party accepted the PML-N mandate in Punjab but soon after announcement of the election results the 10-party alliance, to which the PML-N was also a part, started staging sit-ins.”

PPP leaders Taj Haider, Waqar Mehdi, Rashid Rabbani and others were present.