PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Election Tribunal on Thursday disqualified Jamaat-e-Islam's MPA Malak Behram Khan over fake graduation degree and asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold fresh elections in the constituency.
Election Tribunal's presiding officer Justice (Retired) Shah Jee Rehman issued the JI MPA’s disqualification orders on a petition of PPP’s Sahibzada Sanaullah, who accused Behram of possessing dubious graduation degree and impersonation during an examination.
Contesting May 2013 general elections from PK-93 Upper Dir-3 on JI's ticket, Malak Behram Khan had won the seat. However, the runner-up candidate of PPP's Sahibzada Sanaullah had challenged his victory in the election tribunal saying that Mr. Behram had submitted a fake degree with his nomination papers.
On June 2014, the tribunal had dismissed the petition, directing the Malakand University management to probe the degree issue. Later, the university constituted a special committee and declared the degree as fake.
Behram then appealed against the decision in the Peshawar High Court's Mingora Bench (Darul Qaza) which granted interim relief to the MPA. However, on April 10, a bench comprising Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain and Justice Haider Ali Khan upheld the decision of cancelling the degree.
The JI leader subsequently approached the Supreme Court against the decision which also maintained the verdict. The petitioner's lawyer submitted that the JI MPA had submitted a fake degree along with his nomination papers in 2008 general elections and again in 2013 general elections; thus he does not remain as truthful after the university has declared the degree as fake.
Hearing the arguments from both sides and verifying the BA degree, the tribunal turned down the Behram’s victory.
Behram Khan had secured 13,580 votes followed by 9,799 votes in favour of the PPP candidate. Behram is currently serving as chairman of the standing committee on finance and member of the committees on administration, home and tribal affairs and communication and works.