Umar Amin Gandapur allowed to contest mayor election

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday allowed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Umar Amin Gandapur to contest the election for the Dera City mayor slot.

On Monday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified the PTI candidate for the seat of Dera Ismail Khan city mayor from contesting the upcoming local government elections for violation of the code of conduct.

Following the decision of ECP, Umar Amin Gandapur moved SC first and later Islamabad High Court to challenge his disqualification.

Announcing the reserved verdict, Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Justice Athar Minallah accepted his plea against ECP’s verdict and allowed him to contest LG polls for the Dera City mayor slot.

On Tuesday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had suspended the disqualification of Gandapur for Dera City mayor slot.

The plea was taken up by IHC bench headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah. In the interim order, the IHC ruled the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as against the law and suspended Federal Minister for Kashmir and GB Ali Amin Gandapur’s brother’s disqualification until the next hearing of the case.

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The brother of the federal minister was disqualified by the country’s supreme electoral body, while Ali Amin Gandapur was fined Rs50,000 for violation of election code of conduct and restrained him from addressing public rallies during the election campaign for the second phase of local bodies election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).