SHC issues stay order on printing of ballot papers of 11 constituencies of Karachi

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued stay order on printing of ballot papers of eleven constituencies of Karachi Monday, Geo News reported.

According to sources, the SHC has ordered to stop the printing of ballot papers of 11 constituencies of Karachi after Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) filed an appeal against the new delimitation of Karachi constituencies.

On the other hand, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has completed the printing of those 11 controversial constituencies of Karachi.

It may be mentioned that SHC had reserved its judgment on Monday on the petition filed by the MQM against delimitation of three national and eight provincial assembly constituencies in Karachi.

The political party had challenged the election commission’s March 22 notification regarding delimitation of 11 Karachi constituencies, terming it “nothing but gerrymandering” and “against the spirit and principle of one man-one vote”.

In his concluding arguments, Deputy Attorney General Ashiq Raza submitted that constituencies were redrawn following the Supreme Court order on Karachi violence case. He contended the election commission was empowered under Section 10-A of the Delimitation of Constituencies Act to redraw constituencies.

The commission also justified the delimitation, mentioning that apex court had observed that boundaries of administrative units like police station and revenue estates ought to be altered to avoid political polarisation and break the cycle of ethnic strife and turf wars.

The court was told the schedule for general elections 2013 was issued on March 22 and the process started with the issuance of schedule and not by the completion of the term of assemblies. “The petition is not maintainable and devoid of any merit and may kindly be dismissed,” the election commission submitted.

MQM counsel Farogh Naseem submitted that delimitation was not made according to the last recognised census of 1998 but on the basis of incomplete census. The constituencies were redrawn without a fresh census, which could not be done under the law, he argued.

The lawyer contended that after the election process had started neither the constituencies could be redrawn nor the electoral rolls could be changed as both are relevant to each other as it would affect the entire election process.

The SHC division bench headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar reserved the judgment and directed the counsel to file their written synopsis within two days.