ECP disqualification decision: IHC adjourns hearing of plea seeking to quash case against Faryal

ISLAMABAD: Islamab-ad High Court (IHC) Tuesday adjourned the hearing in a petition seeking to quash disqualification case against former president Asif Ali Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

A single bench of Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the petition filed by Faryal Talpur and deferred the proceedings till April 28th due to non-availability of her lawyer Farooq H Naek.

Previously, the IHC bench had served notices to the respondents in the petition seeking to quash disqualification case against former president Asif Ali Zardari’s sister, Faryal Talpur in the ECP.

The petitioner’s lawyer had contended that the ECP had opened the disqualification case against Talpur on the applications of MPAs, Arsalan Taj and Rabia Azfar.

The ECP had already dismissed this case due to non-pursuance by the complainants, he added.

The petition prayed before the court to declare the ECP’s decision dated February 8, as null and void, and stopped its proceedings against his client’s disqualification.

The petitioner said that the political opponents were fabricating baseless cases against her as she was the sister of the former president.

Talpur said that the two MPAs had moved applications to the Sindh Assembly speaker, which were dismissed later.

She added that the ECP had no authority to hear the case against the speaker’s decision.

However, the court served notices to the respondents and sought their comments in this matter.

The two Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, Arsalan Taj and Rabia Azfar had moved the petition in the ECP seeking disqualification of Talpur as member of the provincial assembly over allegedly concealing her assets.

They stated that the Pakistan Peoples Party leader should be disqualified under Article 62 of the Constitution as she failed to declare details of her assets before the ECP, which means she is no longer “Sadiq and Ameen”.

Faryal Talpur owned properties in Larkana and Shahdadkot, the petitioner stated.

They added that Talpur had been nominated in a case pertaining to billions of rupees of corruption through fake bank accounts. They pleaded that she should be disqualified as a member of the Sindh Assembly.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021