The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to send BBA degree of candidate from PS-57 (Tando Bago) to Higher Education Commission (HEC) for verification.
The directions came on a petition filed by National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, who moved the court against the Provincial Election Tribunal’s dismissal of her appeals on the eligibility of rival candidate.
She had submitted that the Provincial Election Appellate Tribunal of the SHC allowed her rival candidates Ali Bux Shah, alias Papu Shah to contest the 2008 general election from PS-57 (Tando Bago).
She claimed that the BBA degree of Ali Bux was fake, because it’s issuing authority had no affiliation in Pakistan, while his matriculation certificate was also declared fake by the BISE Hyderabad authorities. Therefore, he was not eligible to contest the polls, she added. She prayed before the court to declare illegal the acceptance of her rival candidate’s nominations.
A larger division bench of SHC, headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar directed the ECP to send Ali Bux Shah alias Papu Shah BBA degree to Higher Education Commission (HEC) for verification of its authenticity. The court directed the ECP to carry out such exercise within one week and submit its report within three weeks.
