Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Chief Farooq Sattar addressing a press conference in Karachi on Sunday, February 11, 2018. Photo: Geo News

 

KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday issued a Senate ticket to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan's (MQM-P) deputy convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui Khalid amid a strong protest from party chief Farooq Sattar.   

"Senate tickets are being issued without my permission," Sattar said while speaking outside the ECP.

Sattar and the party?s coordination committee have been at loggerheads over the allotment of Senate tickets. The rift intensified as the latter wrote a letter to the ECP on Friday, informing the electoral body that the authority to issue party tickets rests with the committee, not the party chief. 

His protest with the ECP today, however, was futile, as the latter told the disgruntled party chief that he could willingly take up the matter in court.

The electoral body maintained that Sattar should have lodged his complaint before the process of scrutiny was completed. 

"Any Rabita Committee meetings conducted in my absence and any decisions taken thereof can be questioned," the disgruntled party chief told journalists during a press conference in Karachi. 

Sattar further said that he reserved the right to challenge and question [decisions that were taken by MQM-P's central committee]. 

"The deputy-convener's role is limited," he said while talking to the media. "He can only assist, not take over the convener's duties."

"I don't want to take matters to the court," he said. 

'Issuing party tickets is only Rabita Committee's domain'

MQM-P's coordination committee, on Friday, had delegated the authority to deputy-convener Siddiqui to nominate party members for the upcoming Senate elections on March 3. 

Addressing the media on the same day, Rabita committee member Faisal Subzwari had claimed that according to the party's constitution, the authority to nominate members for elections did not lie with the convener or any individual.  

"This right is the sole privilege of the coordination committee, which has transferred it to deputy-convener [Siddiqui]," he had told journalists. 

Rabita Committee retracts letter to ECP

The rift between PIB Colony and Bahadurabad factions of the party intensified after the latter wrote a letter to the ECP in an attempt to wrest authority from Sattar. 

The letter informed the electoral body that the authority to issue party tickets rests with the Rabita Committee, not the party chief. It also stated that as per Section 19(a) of the party's constitution, the authority to nominate candidates for election rests with the Rabita Committee.

The letter was later rescinded after the coordination committee announced that it was making new efforts to reconcile with party chief.