KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Farooq Sattar on Friday approached an appellate tribunal challenging the rejection of his nomination papers for NA-245 Karachi by the respective returning officer.
Mr. Sattar filed an election petition before a Sindh High Court appellate tribunal, requesting it to overturn the returning officer’s verdict with regard to his papers.
Speaking to reporters after filing the petition, he expressed optimism that his nomination form will be approved once the tribunal takes up his plea.
A day earlier, the MQM-P leader obtained interim bail from a district court in two criminal cases to contest the July 25 elections.
On June 19, the RO rejected his papers on the ground that he didn’t mention the details of two pending cases in which he has been declared an absconder.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) earlier this month declared Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui as convener of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) in a setback to Sattar.
Sattar had approached the IHC
against the election commission decision removing him as party convener in March this year.On March 26, the ECP had given a verdict against Sattar in the wake of a rift within the party over the nomination of Kamran Tessori for a Senate seat. The controversy over Tessori practically divided the party into Satter-led PIB group and Siddiqui-led Bahadurabad group.
The Bahadurabad faction later filed petitions in the ECP, seeking removal of Sattar as convener with the argument that the party’s Rabita Committee had replaced him with Siddiqui by a two-third majority. It also challenged the Feb 18 intra-party polls which Sattar had won with a heavy margin.
Sattar subsequently approached the IHC against the ECP and the court on March 29 suspended the ECP’s verdict of removing Dr. Farooq Sattar as convener of MQM-P
Hearing a petition filed by Farooq Sattar, Justice Amir Farooq issued stay order against the ECP and sought response from the litigants.
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