PPP's Palwasha Khan eligible to contest Senate election: SHC

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed on Monday an appeal challenging the acceptance of PPP candidate Palwasha Khan’s nomination papers for the coming Senate elections.

A two-judge bench of the SHC, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Amjad Ali Sahito, heard the appeal.

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During the hearing, the appellant’s lawyer Aqib Rajpar contended before the court that the PPP candidate got her vote transferred to Karachi through forgery to contest the Senate polls from Sindh.

At this, the court observed that there exits law that allows vote transfer. “How a person could be disqualified through a writ petition?” asked the bench. “How did vote transfer from Punjab to Sindh violate the law?”

“This court is not an appellate tribunal to examine documents,” Justice Mazhar observed.

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Earlier, on Feb 22, an election tribunal had rejected a plea against the acceptance of Palwasha Khan’s nomination papers for the upcoming Senate elections. Subsequently, an appeal challenging the tribunal’s verdict was filed before the SHC.

The appellant stated that Palwasha Khan got her vote transferred from Punjab to Karachi overnight to contest the Senate elections on a reserved seat for women from Sindh. The vote transfer is a violation of Article 220 and 226 of the Constitution, he said.