TV anchor Mubasher Lucman seeks delay in Senate polls

In a petition filed with the SC, Lucman says almost 100 MPs not qualified for voting in the March 2 elections.

ISLAMABAD: Television anchor Mubasher Lucman has moved the Supreme Court seeking postponement of Senate elections, saying that a number of parliamentarians have fake degrees and their cases are pending with accountability forums.

Lucman, who filed the petition on Friday through Barrister Ali Zafar, has also argued that the Election Commission of Pakistan has held 29 by-elections on incomplete voter lists, contrary to the Supreme Court’s ruling, therefore these MPs are not qualified to be members of the National and provincial assemblies.

The petition states that 70 members of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies, who will be voting in the March 2 polls, hold counterfeit degrees and pleads that Senate elections should not be held until the fate of these 100 members is not decided. However, Zafar told The Express Tribune, they will withdraw the case if the 20^th constitutional amendment is passed.

“Under the constitution, senators are to be elected through votes of members of the National and provincial assemblies. However, many sitting parliamentarians do not hold valid degrees and are hence disqualified [from voting],” he said.

Further, he said, 29 parliamentarians were elected through by-elections held using incomplete and invalid electoral lists and under an “election commission” which was not duly constituted under the law. Therefore, these by-elections are void, he said.