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Sunday, July 21, 2013
LHC moved to stay presidential electionsStaff Report
LAHORE: An application has been filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC), requesting the court to stay presidential elections until the plea challenging an amendment made to Presidential Election Rules – allowing a person of unsound mind, un-discharged insolvent and dual national to become president – is decided.
Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique moved the application. He had earlier challenged the amendment, under which the application of Article 63 was deleted.
The applicant said that the Presidential Election Rules, 1988, was gazetted on December 3, 1988. He added Rule 5 (3) requires that a returning officer would reject a nomination paper of a candidate to the office of president if such a candidate is not qualified under the constitution to be elected as president, or subject to any disqualification from being elected as, and from being, a member of the National Assembly.
He said that this disqualification was provided in Article 63 of the constitution. He added that on September 10, 2007, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) through a notification amended the rule and disqualification condition was removed.
He stated that by virtue of aforesaid amendment, the application of disqualification clauses for the seat of the president of Pakistan under Article 63 had been made ineffective, inapplicable. He said that this notification was not only illegal, ultra vires but also unconstitutional in as much as that deletion of word ‘or subject to any disqualification from being elected as, and from being, a member of the National Assembly’ had made it possible that the president of Pakistan can be of “unsound mind, un-discharged insolvent, dual national, convicted from a competent court on charges of contempt of court propagating any opinion or acting in any manner prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan or sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan, or otherwise, dismissed from service, had obtained a loan in the amount of two million rupees or above from any bank or financial institution, a defaulter of government dues and utility expenses in excess of ten thousand rupees”.
The applicant said that he had challenged this amendment before LHC in 2007 which is still pending for adjudication. But, he added, the ECP has now announced the schedule for presidential elections.
He said that without deciding fate of the amendment, the holding of election of the president of Pakistan would be illegal and unconstitutional. He requested the court to stay the elections until the fate of amendment is decided.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk