LHC forms a third bench to hear plea against Kulsoom Nawaz

Judges of two previous benches recused themselves from the matter for personal reasons

LAHORE: For the third time, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah formed a new three-member bench on Thursday to hear petitions against the candidature of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz for NA-120.

This time, the bench will be led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, while Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi and Justice Shahid Jamil will be its members. It is worth mentioning that two full benches, formed to hear these pleas, were dissolved. First, Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan, the head of a three-member bench, refused to hear the matter for personal reasons as did Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza for the second time.



PPP’s Faisal Mir, PAT’s Ishtiaq Chaudhary and Milli Muslim League challenged the candidature of Begum Kalsoom Nawaz for the by-election of a seat that was left vacant after the ouster of her husband and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

They challenged the decisions of the NA-120 returning officer and of the Election Tribunal over the acceptance of Begum Kalsoom Nawaz’s nomination papers for the said constituency.

The petitioners, through their counsels, submitted that Begum Nawaz concealed facts from the RO and lied. They added that she had therefore lost all eligibility to contest for the seat. They said she showed herself as dependent on Nawaz Sharif, but she had shares of some companies with him and had withdrawn a salary from a UAE-based entity. Kulsoom also had the work permit of the UAE company, the petition alleged. They requested the court to set aside the decisions of the RO and Election Tribunal and bar her from contesting by-elections.

Last month, it was decided that the wife of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif would contest the forthcoming by-election in NA-120, the parliamentary seat the PML-N chief was forced to vacate last month after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding office. It was earlier rumoured that Shehbaz Sharif would contest for the slot. However, officials said his role as chief minister of Punjab, which accounts for more than half of country’s 190 million people, is more important.



Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf fielded Dr Yasmeen Rashid as its candidate for the constituency and she also submitted her nomination papers on the same day as Kulsoom.

Soon after the fomer PM’s wife filed her nomination, a lawyer challenged the papers on the grounds that a candidate cannot use the name of a disqualified person's party in the election.

The petitioner claimed the nomination papers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate must be rejected as the name of the party was the same as that of the disqualified. Besides Kulsoom Nawaz, and Dr Yasmeen Rashid, Hafiz Mian Zubair Kardar of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Advocate Ishtiaq Chaudhary of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek were also in the running. The Milli Muslim League (MML) also fielded its candidate for the upcoming by-election of NA-120. According to the petitioner, the words “Nawaz Sharif” cannot be used by a party in any election after the Supreme Court’s verdict.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2017.