Casting the first stone: Can election tribunals judge ‘sadiq’, ‘ameen’ candidates?

SC to hear petition questioning their competency .

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court is hearing a petition questioning the competency of election tribunals and returning officers (ROs) to deem whether a parliamentarian is ‘sadiq’ and ‘ameen’, particularly after the passage of the 18th amendment.

Currently the tribunal and ROs are able to disqualify contesting candidates if they are judged as lacking under Article 62 1F, which states that ‘a person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless he is sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law’.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on Thursday heard petitions from parliamentarians from Balochistan regarding the tribunal and RO’s decisions. The bench has appointed Makhdoom Ali Khan and Ali Zafar as amicus curiae to assist in the question of whether such tribunals parallel ‘a court of law’. “This confusion has ramifications throughout the country,” the CJP remarked.

Speaking with The Express Tribune, counsel for a number of parliamentarians including Molvi Muhammad Hanif and Safdar Ali Khan, Tariq Mahmood said that it is ‘good news’ for parliamentarians that the court will judge whether a candidate can be disqualified until and unless a court of law declares him so. He added that the former CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had previously rejected discussion of the matter, pronouncing it a ‘good omen’ that the case was being heard by the current CJP. It is to be noted that dozens of parliamentarians were disqualified from contesting elections by the ROs and election tribunals during the former CJ’s tenure.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2014.