Poll body closes four MP cases

Without consultation with commission members, Central Executive Committee (CEC) cannot pursue matter in court.

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission on Monday closed the cases of four lawmakers on ex-parte basis after they stayed away from the preliminary hearings on their purportedly falsified and invalid degrees.

But the lawmakers are likely to face further action once the vacant posts of Election Commission members are taken up.

Though Ghulam Dastagir Rajar (NA-235), Afshan Farooq (PP-Reserved), Muhammad Safdar Gill (PP-274) and Farah Deeba (PP-Reserved) were served several notices by the Election Commission, they failed to appear before the commission’s panel. Due to their continuous absence the poll body committee decided to send their cases to the chief election commissioner assuming they had nothing to say in their defence.

According to the procedure, the chief election commissioner, after consulting with members of the commission, will send the cases of such public representatives to the districts and sessions judges of the respective districts from where the member was elected.

After parliament adopted the 18th constitutional amendment both the mechanism and composition of the commission has changed. According to the new law, the CEC cannot take such decisions on his own without consulting with members of the commission. The government is yet to appoint new commission members.

Two other members Mukesh Kumar (PS-Reserved) and Syed Aqil Shah (PF-4) also remained absent and the committee decided to issue them a final reminder for their appearance before the committee on November 8.

Pitanbar Sewani (PS-Reserved) appeared in person and pleaded that he had changed his name from Washdev alias Pitanbar Sewani to Pitnanbar Sewani by advertising in newspapers and the Gazette Notification of the Sindh Government in 2000. The committee informed him that the Board of Intermediate had declared his certificate as bogus.

In response, Sewani presented all his documents before the committee and said he had filed a case against the concerned board. The committee decided to issue notices to BISE, Hyderabad to appear before the committee on November 8, with all the relevant records.

Federal lawmaker Mehboobullah Jan appeared on behalf of Maulvi Obaidullah (PF-61) and requested for an adjournment as Obaidullah had to appear before an election tribunal the same day. The case has now been fixed for November 22.

A representative, Muhammad Asif appeared on behalf of Mir Ahmedan Khan (NA-265). The next date has been fixed for November 22, on request of the representative.

A representative, Inamullah, appeared on behalf of Sardar Ali (PF-34) and sought an adjournment followed by a request to provide copies of the allegations as well. The committee directed him to produce all documents in his defence and to appear on November 8.

Advocate Raja Inam Amir Minhas appeared on behalf of Haji Nasir Mehmood (PP-111) and requested for copies of the allegations. The committee asked him to produce all relevant documents in his defence along with the power of attorney on the hearing scheduled for November 8.

Maulvi Haji Roziuddin (NA-262) submitted copies of the court’s judgment on the direction of the committee, however, the ECP found the judgments irrelevant to his case. The committee fixed the next hearing for November 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2010.