Election Commission of Pakistan. PHOTO: AFP
The move comes three days after the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf filed a similar plea in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which itself has been handicapped since the retirement of its four members on June 12.
The two major opposition parties have intensified efforts against the government after almost a month of bickering with the ruling party over the mode of investigation into the Panama Papers revelations that the Sharif family had offshore holdings.
On Monday, the PPP filed the petition in the ECP through renowned lawyer Latif Khosa. The plea has nominated as respondents Premier Nawaz, his younger brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, his son Hamza Shahbaz, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar, the premier’s son-in-law.
The application filed by the PTI only named the prime minister for concealing his properties from the election authorities.
No progress expected
These petitions cannot be fixed yet for a preliminary hearing as the retirement of four ECP members has left the body dysfunctional. All electoral matters are on hold till the commission comprising the chief election commissioner (CEC) and four members, each representing a province, is completed, ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob told reporters at an Iftar reception on Monday.
All by-elections for national and provincial legislatures have been suspended. Elections for chairman and mayors of cities in Sindh and Punjab have also been deferred.
Yaqoob said the CEC recently wrote a letter to the prime minister asking him to formulate a legal solution to ensure his office kept working for an interim period.
The 22nd amendment states new members should be appointed within 45 days starting from June 12. The Constitution is, however, silent on the legality of election-related decisions taken by the CEC in the absence of its four members.
Insiders said the government in its response to the letter has said the CEC was empowered to continue the ECP functions – an interpretation disputed by many law experts.
Serious allegations
The PPP, meanwhile, has levelled serious charges against the incumbent high-ups. In its 72-page petition, PPP has accused the Sharif family of misreporting their assets and tax returns, and of money laundering.
The PPP has attached all the relevant records of the Sharif family since 1985, Latif Khosa told reporters after submitting the petition at the ECP. A certificate from the State Bank of Pakistan has also been attached wherein the Sharif family had been purportedly declared a defaulter of loans worth Rs6 billion.
Khosa claimed the Sharifs had been defaulters till 2013 and even if they returned this loan in 2014, the disqualification clause still applied to them.
Revising electoral lists
At the Iftar dinner, the ECP officials also briefed the media about their plan to revise voter lists, which would be used in the next general elections due in 2018.
The exercise would be completed in October this year. Registered voters in the country are expected to reach 90.8 million in the new electoral rolls.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2016.
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