ECP reserves order on Gilani’s eligibility

Starts process for scrutiny of Senate candidate’s nomination papers

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday reserved its order on the nomination papers of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as it started the process for scrutiny of the nomination papers filed by 179 candidates, who wish to contest the upcoming Senate elections.

Gilani, a joint candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) from Islamabad, belongs to the PPP. He served as the prime minister from 2008 till June 19, 2012 when the Supreme Court disqualified him for the contempt of court.

The PDM – an 11-party opposition alliance formed with the avowed aim to dislodge the PI government – claims that the election of Gilani from one of the two Senate seats of Islamabad will be like a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Starting its scrutiny process, the ECP on Wednesday accepted nomination papers of eight candidates for two Islamabad seats. It rejected the nomination paper of an independent candidate due to dual nationality while reserving order on the papers of Gilani. The ECP will unveil its order today (Thursday) at 9am.

The candidates whose nomination papers were accepted include PTI’s Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Farid Rehman, Ali Bukhari, Fauzia Arshad and Nayyara Javed and PML-N Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, Farzana Kausar and Farah Akbar. No one raised objections to their nominations.

The PTI, however, raised objections to the nomination of Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Arguing before the presiding officer, the PTI’s counsel said the former prime minister is facing graft references while he is also nominated in 23 first information reports filed by the Federal Investigation Agency and does not qualify to be a lawmaker under the Article 62 and 63.

Gilani, who also came to the ECP headquarters along with two other former prime ministers Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, said he was subjected to media trial.

His counsel said the Supreme Court had disqualified the former prime minister through a symbolic sentence and that he had already contested the 2018 general election. He rejected all the claims of the PTI counsel. The presiding officer, however, reserved order on the PDM’s candidate nomination papers.

The scrutiny process will continue till tomorrow.

The candidates can also file appeals against acceptance or rejection of their nomination papers on February 20 whereas February 23 is the last date for disposing of these appeals.

The ECP will publish the revised list of the candidates on February 24 whereas a candidate can withdraw his/her nominations papers by February 25

Polling for the Senate election will be held at the National Assembly as well as all the four provincial assemblies on March 3 between 9 am to 5 pm, according to the schedule released by the ECP.

About 170 candidates have filed their nomination papers with the ECP out of which 29 are from Punjab, 39 from Sindh, 51 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), 41 from Balochistan and 10 from the federal capital.

ECP Secretariat for Islamabad Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal Hussain, Punjab Election Commissioner Ghulam Israr Khan, Sindh Election Commissioner Ejaz Anwar Chauhan, K-P Election Commissioner Sharifullah and Balochistan Election Commissioner Muhammad Raziq have been notified as the returning officers.

The decision of secret or open voting will be taken after the decision of the reference pending in the Supreme Court. Polling will be held in Punjab and Sindh for 11 seats each, Balochistan and K-P for 12 seats each and Islamabad for two seats.