KARACHI: An appellate bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday rejected the nomination of Saifullah Abro, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate for Senate from Sindh, for the March 3 elections.
Abro had filed nomination papers to contest the election on a technocrat seat. A returning officer (RO) of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) Sindh chapter had accepted his bid which was challenged in the tribunal last week on grounds that he did not meet the criteria laid out for technocrats.
On Monday, an election tribunal took up the petition against Abro and, after hearing the arguments, ruled that Abro cannot contest the Senate polls.
“The objections raised by the petitioners were proved true and Saifullah Abro does not fulfill the requirement of a technocrat,” read the short order.
Earlier, PTI leaders from rural Sindh had approached Governor Imran Ismail, also a PTI stalwart, to express their reservations and demanded the party’s high command cancel the nomination of Abro and Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda.
Eight appeals were filed against the decisions of the returning officers over acceptance and rejection of the Senate hopefuls from Sindh.
Two appeals were filed against Abro, while an appeal was filed against the acceptance of Vawda’s nomination papers on a general seat.
