KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan has restrained the Election Tribunal, Karachi from passing a judgement in the election petition against the victory of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on a provincial assembly seat on his application.

The election petition against the CM was filed by Syed Ghous Ali Shah, a disgruntled leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, who was recently declared successful to a National Assembly seat by the election tribunal that declared the election of Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Nawab Ali Wassan void.

The PML-N leader had contested the election for the provincial assembly seat PS-29 and NA seat NA-215 in his hometown, Khairpur, but lost both to the PPP candidates. Mr Qaim was declared to have won the PA seat after securing 44,362 votes, while Mr Wassan won the NA seat after bagging 91,809 votes.

On Dec 6, the ET Karachi, headed by former district and sessions judge Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani, had allowed the election appeal of Ghous Ali Shah against the election of the PPP candidate due to rigging.

The judgement in the election appeal of the PML-N candidate against the CM was fixed for pronouncement on Dec 13 at the tribunal, but it was deferred by the tribunal as it issued a show-cause notice on Thursday to the parties for hearing on the question of politically motivated transfers and postings of the officers in the constituency.

The election tribunal on Thursday issued show-cause notices to the Sindh CM and PML-N Ghous Ali Shah to explain why material should not be summoned from the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding government functionaries’ transfers and postings by the caretaker government on chief minister’s choice in the Khairpur district before elections.

In the meanwhile, CM Shah moved the ECP through a miscellaneous application seeking transfer of the PML-N candidate’s election appeal against him from the Election Tribunal, Karachi and a restraining order on the pronouncement of the judgement.

The ECP headed by Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza and comprising retired Justices Muhammad Roshan Essani, Riaz Kayani and Fazal-ur-Rehman restrained the ET Karachi from passing any order in the election petition against Mr Qaim.

In his transfer application, the CM said that Judge Sherwani had always had bias and prejudice towards the PPP leadership.

He recalled that the bias of the presiding officer of the tribunal was evident in the trial of Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case against the PPP leadership when he was district and sessions judge. “The bias and certain allegations were attributed against him and transfer application was moved accordingly and ultimately the matter was decided by another judge,” he added.

He referred to certain judgements of the tribunal and said that it had declared the election of a PPP candidate, Perveen Aziz Junejo, void on the election petition of rival candidate Liaquat Ali Jatoi of the Pakistan Muslim League, who was declared as winning candidate despite huge margin.

The applicant CM said that one of the PPP candidates, Ghulam Qadir Chandio, was also de-seated by the tribunal that shifted the burden of proof on the winning candidate to establish that he was a graduate.

He said that the tribunal also declared election of PPP MPA Abdul Sattar Rajpar void on the election petition of rival candidate Arif Mustafa Jatoi.

Similarly, Mr Qaim said, PPP candidate Sardar Muhammad Muqeem Khan Khoso’s election was declared void by Judge Sherwani on the election petition of rival candidate Muhammad Aslam Khan Abro.

The CM submitted that it was apparent that there would be an element of partiality in the adjudication process as Judge Sherwani remained bias and closely affiliated with the rival candidate.

He said that the presiding officer of the tribunal also uttered “hateful words” against him in the presence of his counsel Advocate Ali Sher Makwal. “Thus certainly the applicant may be de-notified at any time, as has been done in the case of Nawab Ali Wassan,” he apprehended.

CM Qaim Ali Shah asked the ECP to transfer the election petition against him to another election tribunal “so that the judgement may be written without any bias and in accordance with law and be announced accordingly”.

The ECP on Friday restrained the Election Tribunal from passing “any order” in the election petition against the CM and issued notices to the ET and the PML-N candidate for Dec 15, directing the tribunal to submit its comments immediately through fax or any other mode.

Published in Dawn December 14th , 2014