News
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
SHC stays printing of ballot papers in Karachi constituenciesKARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued a stay order on the printing of ballot papers for 11 constituencies of Karachi.
It may be mentioned that the SHC had reserved its judgement until Monday on a petition filed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) against the delimitation of three National Assembly and eight provincial assembly constituencies in Karachi.
The political party had challenged the election commission’s March 22 notification regarding the 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 the constituencies were redrawn following the Supreme Court’s order in the Karachi violence case. He contended that 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 the 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 that the schedule for general election 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.
The counsel for MQM, Farogh Naseem, submitted that delimitation was not done according to the last recognised census of 1998 but on the basis of an 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 were relevant to each other, as it would affect the entire election process. Hearing the petition against the new delimitation of Karachi constituencies, the SHC issued the stay order until April 21 and sough answer from the Election Commission on April 22. onlineCourtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk