KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain Friday said the elections authorities were asking insulting and irrelevant questions and the rejections of the forms of many a candidates seemed an attempt to distracting the election process.

Hussain was addressing a press conference from London at the Nine Zero, the MQM headquarters in central Karachi.

He said the election authorities were asking weird questions to the candidates as to how many wives they had and with whom they spend much of their time.

“This is ridiculous and very insulting to ask personal question to establish the eligibility of the candidatures,” he said.

He also termed the rejection of a candidate’s nomination because he purportedly wrote an article against the ideology of Pakistan.

“For one it could be against the ideology of Pakistan but someone else might have thought it in accordance with the ideology,” he explained and called upon the Supreme Court of Pakistan and other constitutional to define once and for all the ideology of Pakistan.

“Was the ideology confined to only offer prayers fastening your hands on your chests,” he questioned.

He also pointed out that a lady candidate who was veiled was asked by the election officer that she did not look 35 of age and demanded her to unveil her so that he could be convinced of her age.

“What kind of scrutiny that was going on, they are making mockery of the scrutiny process,” Hussain said.

The returning officers were asking the question under articles 62, 63 which require a candidate for general seats a practicing Muslim.

“Many of the returning officers themselves do not qualify under the articles 62, 63,” he said.

He ironically called upon the chief election commissioner to appear on the TV and teach the nation as to how the funeral prayers were offered.

He was referring to the questions of the district returning officers were asking the candidates to recite the different Quranic verses.

He also criticized the delimitation of the electoral constituencies in only Karachi which he called as ‘robbery on the mandate of MQM in Karachi.”