MQM-P convenership: ECP reserves decision on maintainability of plea

KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan reserved on Tuesday the decision regarding the maintainability of the plea in relation to the intra-party dispute on the position of the party convener.

The infighting between party members over nominations for the upcoming Senate elections had earlier resulted in the emergence of splinter groups - Dr Farooq Sattar led PIB Colony faction and the Bahadurabad group consisting of Amir Khan, Nasreen Jalil, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and others.

Sattar had earlier challenged the ECP’s jurisdiction to hear a petition pertaining to the party's convenership on March 1.

The petition, filed by Sattar's legal counsel Babar Sattar states that the party's internal matters cannot be heard by the ECP, demanding the Bahadurabad group's petition should be dismissed.

Maqbool Siddiqui’s counsel Farogh Naseem presented his arguments today and said that Sattar was dismissed from the post as per the law.

He said that Sattar’s intra-party election on February 18 is not as per the party’s election law.

Naseem said that all the disputes should be resolved as per the party constitution, adding that if there are intra-party reservations then the ECP can look into it.

He added that all the earlier verdicts point out that the ECP has the jurisdiction to resolve the matter.

During the hearing, Farooq’s lawyer Babar Sattar said that the ECP has no jurisdiction regarding intra-party issues.

Babar said that the ECP should check its record from 2012 to 2016, according to which all the party tickets have been issued under Sattar’s signature.

Following which the Chief Election Commissioner said that this court cannot tell anyone’s rights, adding that the party has a better answer to the query.

The ECP, after the arguments from all sides, reserved its decision on the maintainability of the petition. The ECP adjourned the hearing until March 26.