ECP rejects plea seeking disqualification of PPP MPA Faryal Talpur

• PTI leaders failed to build case against Faryal Talpur, says ECP.
• ECP says disqualification requires material and concrete evidence.
• ECP had reserved verdict over PTI leaders petition.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday rejected a plea seeking the disqualification of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Faryal Talpur. 

The ECP had reserved the verdict over a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Arsalan Taj and Rabia Azfar seeking the disqualification of PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari's sister as a member of the Sindh Assembly.

In its verdict today, the Election Commission wrote that the respondent had disclosed her assets and that disqualification requires material and concrete evidence. The petitioners failed to make a case for disqualification, it added.

The petition had alleged that the PPP leader should be disqualified under Article 62 of the Constitution as she failed to declare details of her assets before the ECP, which means she is no longer ‘Sadiq and Ameen’.

Faryal Talpur owned properties in Larkana and Shahdadkot, the petition stated, adding Talpur had been nominated in a case pertaining to billions of rupees in corruption through fake bank accounts.

On the last hearing, the counsel of the two sides appeared before the electoral body for final arguments in the case. 

“Mrs Talpur didn’t declare her assets properly and concealed facts,” the petitioner’s counsel argued.

“It is not a case of non-declaration, all assets of my client have been declared,” Talpur’s counsel told the ECP panel. 

“Show your record, which will end the case,” the Election Commission panel told Faryal Talpur’s lawyer. Later, the ECP reserved the verdict on the plea, which has been announced today.

Talpur was elected from the PS 10 Rattodero constituency of Larkana during the 2018 general elections with 53,627 votes. He rival PTI's Ameer Buksh Khan Bhutto managed only 37,665 votes.