Counter move: Unification Bloc could challenge CEC’s eligibility
Supreme Court likely to be moved if CEC dismisses dissenters’ plea.
LAHORE:
Unification Bloc members of the provincial assembly have decided to move the Supreme Court in the last week of May to challenge the eligibility and position of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza. The move is part of a strategy to counter the expected move by the PML-Q to get some member of the Unification Bloc disqualified.
The Unification Bloc has joined hands with the PML-N and with the upcoming budget could be a force to be reckoned with. The PML-Q has decided that it will do its best to bring down the strength of the Unification Bloc in the Punjab Assembly prior to the budget.
Sources said that the PML-Q’s Chaudhris have convinced President Asif Ali Zardari to support them in having at least nine of the dissidents ineligible. They have already challenged the eligibility of the nine before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The president is said to have given them his word that the ECP will rule in their favour. PML-Q, sources say, hopes to have at least five members declared ineligible so that the strength of the Unification Bloc is diminished.
CEC Mirza is currently hearing the petition of the PML-Q against the nine Unification Bloc members.
Sources said that Senior Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has promised his party that he would ensure that the strength of the Unification Bloc is reduced before the budget session, even if it required bribing some members.
Sources in the Unification Bloc and the PML-N told The Express Tribune that Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had advised the Unification Bloc members whose cases are in front of the CEC to challenge the CEC’s eligibility.
They said that according to the Supreme Court, after the passing of the 18th Amendment, only an independent election commission could entertain their case.
They said that Khan had told the counsel for Unification Bloc members that the prime minister would need to consult him before recommending the names of members to the ECP who would entertain their case. Unification Bloc leader Atta Muhammad Khan Maneka told The Express Tribune that if CEC did not entertain their argument then they would move the Supreme Court. He said that despite all conspiracies hatched by the PPP and PML-Q’s leadership, Unification Bloc members would stand by PML-N in Punjab.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2011.
Unification Bloc members of the provincial assembly have decided to move the Supreme Court in the last week of May to challenge the eligibility and position of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza. The move is part of a strategy to counter the expected move by the PML-Q to get some member of the Unification Bloc disqualified.
The Unification Bloc has joined hands with the PML-N and with the upcoming budget could be a force to be reckoned with. The PML-Q has decided that it will do its best to bring down the strength of the Unification Bloc in the Punjab Assembly prior to the budget.
Sources said that the PML-Q’s Chaudhris have convinced President Asif Ali Zardari to support them in having at least nine of the dissidents ineligible. They have already challenged the eligibility of the nine before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The president is said to have given them his word that the ECP will rule in their favour. PML-Q, sources say, hopes to have at least five members declared ineligible so that the strength of the Unification Bloc is diminished.
CEC Mirza is currently hearing the petition of the PML-Q against the nine Unification Bloc members.
Sources said that Senior Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has promised his party that he would ensure that the strength of the Unification Bloc is reduced before the budget session, even if it required bribing some members.
Sources in the Unification Bloc and the PML-N told The Express Tribune that Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had advised the Unification Bloc members whose cases are in front of the CEC to challenge the CEC’s eligibility.
They said that according to the Supreme Court, after the passing of the 18th Amendment, only an independent election commission could entertain their case.
They said that Khan had told the counsel for Unification Bloc members that the prime minister would need to consult him before recommending the names of members to the ECP who would entertain their case. Unification Bloc leader Atta Muhammad Khan Maneka told The Express Tribune that if CEC did not entertain their argument then they would move the Supreme Court. He said that despite all conspiracies hatched by the PPP and PML-Q’s leadership, Unification Bloc members would stand by PML-N in Punjab.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2011.