Local polls: Notices issued on ‘clean candidates’ plea

Petitioner asked the court to direct ECP to make sure that Article 62 and 63 are applied to local election candidates.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the attorney general of Pakistan and the advocate general of the Punjab for December 6 on a petition seeking the application of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution in the screening of candidates for the local elections.

The petitioner, Advocate Munir Ahmed, has asked the court to direct the Election Commission of Pakistan to make sure that Article 62, which outlines the qualifications a candidate standing for election to parliament must have, and Article 63, which outlines possible reasons for disqualifying a candidate, are applied to local election candidates.

The petitioner also asked the court to direct the federal government to explain what instructions, if any, had been relayed to returning officers for determining a candidate’s viability. In particular, he said, it should say whether fake degrees holders, loan defaulters, tax evaders and dual nationals would be barred from running.

Ahmed said that Article 62 required a candidate to be one who is not commonly known to violate Islamic injunctions, who has knowledge of Islamic teaching and practices, abstains from major sins, and is sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, honest and ameen.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2013.