On November 4, the Chief Election Commissioner Justice Fakhrudin G. Ebrahim had upheld the disqualification of Waheeda Shah, a candidate who was caught on camera slapping an ECP official during polling on February 25 in the by-election of PS-53 of Sindh Assembly. A three-judge bench led by Justice Nasirul Mulk issued the stay order for the election in PS-53, scheduled for December 4, after it heard arguments of Hashmat Habib, the counsel for Waheeda Shah.
Hashmat Habib pleaded that the concerned presiding officer, Habiba Memon, had failed to get an FIR registered against his client two days after the alleged incident and the Returning Officer had sentenced his client as a magistrate days without following due process of law. He insisted that his client had not slapped anyone during the polling; she was only trying to disperse the crowd.