News


Tuesday, April 09, 2013

LHC seeks record of criteria used to reject, approve nominations

* Court also seeks details of appointments made by Federal and Punjab
governments after ban imposed by ECP on Jan 22

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to apprise it about the mechanism, material or information utilised by the returning officers while rejecting or accepting the nomination papers of the candidates in Punjab.
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah issued the order on a petition seeking implementation of articles 62 and 63 of the constitution and challenging all appointments made by the governments in violation of ban imposed by the ECP. Justice Shah also sought till today (Tuesday) details of appointments made by the federal and Punjab governments after the ban imposed by the ECP on January 22.
Earlier, he had suspended State Bank of Pakistan Deputy Governor Muhammad Ashraf Wathra for being appointed after the ECP ban. The judge had also restrained returning officers of the province from asking irrelevant questions from the candidates during scrutiny of the nomination papers. On Monday, counsel of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that the bank was not the appointing authority of deputy governor and the authority concerned was the Finance Ministry.
He also said that the ban of the ECP did not apply to the SBP, however, if the commission insists, the deputy governor was ready to relinquish the charge. Justice Shah remarked that in this case the ECP was of the view that the deputy governor could not be appointed. The ECP will place on record the evidence to establish that appointment of Ashraf Wathra amounted to “pre-poll rigging as a political bribe”.
Justice Shah directed the counsel to seek written instructions from the ECP in this regard. The counsel and representatives of the ECP told the court that every candidate who files nomination papers undergoes mandatory scrutiny by the Federal Board of Revenue, National Accountability Bureau and the SBP. The judge directed the ECP to present complete list of candidates from Punjab who underwent verification by the aforesaid authorities along with result thereof and whether the returning officers relied on that information in deciding the nomination papers.

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

 

 

Back to Top