The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will take up a petition today (Wednesday) seeking to stop the Senate elections, officials told The Express Tribune.
Petitioners Ghulam Qadir and five others, after filing an application with the ECP on Tuesday, requested the ECP chief, Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza, to stop the Senate Elections, 2012, due to the alleged use of money by contenders to get parliamentarians to vote for them.
They also sought the attention of the ECP chief regarding the illegal flow of money involving a number of provincial and National Assembly members during the election campaign. The petitioners, in an unsigned application, urged the rejection of the nomination papers of those alleged to have paid millions to ‘buy’ tickets for Senate seats, the officials said.
The five-member panel, headed by the ECP chief, will take up the application along with other complaints filed with the ECP today. Four members, Justice (retd) Roshan Essani (Sindh), Justice (retd) Riaz Kayani (Punjab), Justice (retd) Shahzad Akbar and Justice (retd) Fazlur Rehman are the members of this panel.
The panel will take up these complaints under section 13 (5) of Senate (Elections) Act, 1975, said ECP Assistant Director (Law) Tanveer Ahmad Khan. ECP Director General Syed Sher Afghan Khan has already put these complaints on the to-do list for today, officials added.
The ECP has received three appeals, six applications and one complaint against the rejection/acceptance of nomination papers. The hearings for these appeals are scheduled for February 22 and 23. Advocate Shahid Jami filed an application challenging the nomination papers of PML-N’s Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa, PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan and PML-N leader Zafarullah Khan.
Muhammad Ameen Imrani filed a complaint against a returning officer, as well as against the rejection of Umar Khan Jamali’s nomination papers, who is an independent candidate from Balochistan. Pakistan Muslim League-Q leader Mohsin Khan Leghari also filed an appeal against the rejection of his nomination papers.
Rejected candidates who did not file appeals include Sarfraz Ahmed, Najma Ahmed, Umer Khan Ali Sherzai, Mungal Das Arwani, Neik Muhammad Khan, Muhammad Tahir, Ammar Ahmed Khan, Waqas Qayyum Gill, Hussain Khan, Fouzia Tabassum, Hina Bibi and Jorge Pall.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2012.
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This petition is nonesense . So far senate election are taken place in punjab and islamabad capital terrority where senators were elected through parlimentary resolution not by votes of provincial legislators and National assemblies . and according to media report similar practice of senate election through parlimentary resolution will take place in Sindh and KPK .
ECP please listen to these petitions. The onus is on you to ensure free and fair elections. Also don't forget to speak up against the 20th Amendment, the biggest drama after the NRO.