KARACHI - The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to file its response to a petition seeking disqualification of Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah as member of the Sindh Assembly by April 20.

A two-judge bench of the SHC expressed displeasure over the Election Commission for failing to respond to the petition observing, “It appears that the ECP doesn’t want to submit its response.”

An ECP lawyer asked the court for some more time to file its reply. Advocate General Salman Talibuddin argued that the Supreme Court had already handed a verdict on the point raised in the petition which, he said, was not maintainable. He said, the petitioner was in habit of instituting such petitions and requested the court to dismiss it. 

The petition against the Sindh Chief Minister stated that Shah had been disqualified by the Supreme Court (SC) on May 2 – 2013 but he contested a by-election in 2014 from Jamshoro. The petitioner pleaded with the high court to disqualify Murad Ali Shah for a lifetime.