Pointing fingers: ECP barred from notifying PML-N minority candidate

Petitioner alleged that Ramesh Kumar had concealed facts about the assets he owned.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has restrained till May 28 the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from notifying a candidate Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) nominated for a Sindh Assembly seat reserved for religious minorities.

Headed by Justice Faisal Arab, the bench also issued notices to the candidate, Ramesh Kumar, and the returning officer as well as the secretaries of the federal law ministry, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry and the election commission to file their comments.

The stay order came on a petition filed by Nitesh Kumar seeking to disqualify Ramesh for the seat on the grounds that he was ineligible.

He informed the judges that PML-N, which emerged as the largest party on May 11 and would be forming the federal government, had nominated Ramesh to be a candidate for the reserved provincial assembly seat.

He alleged Ramesh, while filing his nomination papers, had lied as he concealed information about his assets. “He owned a Land Cruiser which he sold on April 13 and is also running many businesses that he has not mentioned to the commission,” said Nitesh.



The petitioner’s lawyer argued that Ramesh stands disqualified for the assembly seat in the light of Section 12(2)(f) of the Representation of the People Act 1976. He pleaded the court to bar the poll body from issuing a notification stating Ramesh has been given the reserved assembly seat.

Calling for comments from the ministries, election commission, RO and Kumar on May 28, the bench restrained ECP from issuing the notification till the next date.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2013.