PESHAWAR: A case has been submitted to the Peshawar High Court (PHC) requesting to stop the nomination of Aisha Bibi on women reserved seat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly from tribal districts.
The petition was filled by Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Nisar Mohmand through advocate Sajeed Khan asking the court that Aisha Bibi’s vote was not registered in the tribal district but her nomination papers were approved by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The petitioner said that only those should represent the tribal people who are from tribal districts. The case was heard by a two-judge bench comprising Justice Mussarat Hilali and Justice Naeem Anwar and issued a notice to the ECP with the direction to submit response till next hearing of the case.
“Why are you against the woman (Aisha Bibi),?” enquired by Justice Hilali. “There are more women in the list and only those should come who belong to the tribal districts,” Lawyer for petitioner replied.
The bench summoned the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) lawyer who appeared before the bench and repudiated the petitioner’s arguments saying that Ayesha Bibi is from the tribal belt and she has registered her vote on August 16. The ECP lawyer also argued that the petitioner cannot file a case in PHC, as under the law, he should have gone to the Election Tribunal before filling case in the High Court.
However, the petitioner said that Aisha’s vote was not registered, and asked the court that if the Election Commission has a record, it should be presented before the court. On this, the bench directed lawyer of ECP to submit a response to the case on the next hearing of the case. The case was adjourned till September 12.
After Aisha Bibi, Wafa Wazir was on the second number on the PTI priority list but her papers have already been rejected. On the third number is Mehreen Afridi, so if the petitioner wins the case and Aisha was declared disqualified, the ground will be open for Mehreen Afridi.
