PESHAWAR: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday reserved judgment on petitions submitted against the disqualification of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Umar Amin Gandapur and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister for Shah Mohammad Wazir.
High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the petition against the disqualification of former KP Provincial Minister for Transport Shah Mohammad. The Chief Justice said that the entire political party is responsible for the “grave violation” of election code of conduct when the a minter snatched the ballot box from the polling state. The chief justice remarked the allegation of picking up ballot boxes from polling station is not trivial issue.
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Shah Mohammad’s lawyer argued that his political rival has leveled the allegations which are not “true”. “The complainant, Mohabbat Khan, was not present when the polling station was attacked,” The lawyer said. He added Khan is an activist of Jamiat Ulema Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) and was directly responsible for the tragedy. The lawyer informed that the people of the area are strong supporters of JUI-F.
Chief Justice also heard the petition against the disqualification of PTI leader Umar Amin Gandapur. The chief justice remarked that Gandapur is accused that his brother Ali Amin Gandapur was running his election campaign in violation of the election code of conduct. The chief justice said that for the first violation, the ECP has to imposed fine on the candidate. The justice questioned why the ECP directly issued disqualification order?
After hearing the arguments, the court reserved judgments on the disqualification of PTI leaders Umar Amin Gandapur and Shah Mohammad.
On 9th February, the IHC had suspended the disqualification order of KP minister for transport Shah Mohammad Wazir. The petitioner had taken the position that he was ‘innocent’ and accused his political rival of attacking polling stations. The Election Commission had issued his disqualification order while hearing the case of attacks on polling station in Bakakhel Tehsil of Bannu district on 18 December.