Peshawar: PESHAWAR High Court (PHC) has returned the petitions filed by chairman Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza and other members of assembly against their disqualification by Election Commission (EC) besides directing them to resort to respective high courts.

Earlier court had reserved judgment on petitions seeking suspension of notification regarding their disqualification.

During the hearing Syed Sikandar Shah advocate counsel for the petitioners took the plea the petitioners are members of National Assembly (NA) and Provincial Assembly (PA) who were disqualified by Election Commission (EC) on August 05 after having been convicted and sentenced by Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) Faisalabad.

The counsel told the court sentence was announced in the absence of his clients and EC de-seated them overnight without waiting for appeal pleas . In such cases only conviction is not sufficient for disqualification and court's decisions in the past are there with reference to it.

During the hearing of the case Additional Attorney General (AAG) Sana Ullah and representatives of EC raised objection these all constituencies belong to Punjab and for this the petitioners can resort to Lahore High Court (LHC) or Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Justice Waqar Ahmad remarked when millions of people elect any member of assembly then the rights of these voters are also affected. Every sentence does not serve as cause for disqualification.

The court while announcing the decision on completion of hearing returned the petitions and directed the petitioners to resort to respective high courts.