ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday de-seated 25 dissident Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPAs who voted for PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz Sharif in Punjab chief minister election.
The election body had reserved its verdict on Tuesday on the
disqualification reference of 25 dissident PTI MPAs of the Punjab Assembly.
Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had sent disqualification references against the deviant members.
The dissident lawmakers are Abdul Aleem Khan, Raja Sagheer Ahmed, Malik Ghulam Rasool Sangha, Saeed Akbar Khan, Mohammad Ajmal, Abdul Aleem Khan, Nazir Ahmed Chohan, Mohammad Amin Zulqernain, Malik Nauman Langrial,
Mohammad Salman, Zawar Hussain Warraich, Nazir Ahmed Khan, Fida Hussain, Zahra Batool, Mohammad Tahir, Aisha Nawaz, Sajida Yousaf, Haroon Imran Gill, Uzma Kardar, Malik Asad Ali, Ijaz Masih, Mohammad Sabtain Raza, Mohsin Atta
Khan Khosa, Mian Khalid Mehmood, Mehar Mohammad Aslam and Faisal Hayat.
SC verdict
The ECP decision comes days after SC’s decision on the interpretation of Article 63 (A), announcing that defective votes will not be counted. The decision was made with a majority of 3-2, Justice Jamal Mandokhel and Justice Nazeer Alam dissented from the decision.
The hearing of the case commenced on March 21 under a two-member bench, which was later increased to a larger bench by CJP Bandial. Article 63(A) cannot be interpreted alone, other articles also need to be kept in context, said the Cheif Justice in the verdict.
HAMZA LOST MAJORITY
Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz Sharif received a total of 197 votes while 186 votes are required for a simple majority.
As these 25 lawmakers are no longer members of the House, Hamza has lost his majority in the House.
SCHEDULE FOR ISLAMABAD LG POLLS
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday issued the schedule to hold local government election in Islamabad, according to which, polling will take place on July 17, 2022.
As per the schedule, the aspirant candidates may submit their nomination papers with the Returning Officers (ROs) from May 30 to June 3 while the names of the nominated candidates will be published on June 4.
The ROs will conduct the scrutiny of the nomination papers from June 6 to 8 whereas from June 9 to 11, appeals will be filed against the decision of the Returning Officers.
Three days from June 13 to 15 have been set for the Appellate Tribunal to decide the appeals followed by the publication of the revised list of the candidates on June 17.
Likewise, June 18 has been fixed as the last date for the withdrawal of candidates and the publication of the revised list of candidates.
The contesting candidates will be allotted election symbols on June 20 while the election will be held on July 17.
