PML-N man back in parliament as SC stays NA-154 by-polls

Top court suspends election tribunal’s decision unseating Siddique Baloch

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court suspended on Tuesday an election tribunal’s verdict to unseat Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker from the National Assembly constituency NA-154 (Lodhran-I) and stayed the upcoming by-election on the seat.

Consequent to the top court order, Siddique Baloch’s membership of parliament has been restored. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s Jahangir Tareen – who was defeated by Baloch in the constituency in the 2013 parliamentary elections – expressed disappointment over the decision, alleging that the PML-N moved the SC as it feared defeat.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, took up Baloch’s appeal against the August 26 order of the election tribunal, which had disqualified the PML-N leader for life for possessing a forged educational certificate.

Tareen had challenged the election of Baloch, who had contested the elections as an independent candidate but later joined the PML-N. By-election was scheduled for October 11 on the seat vacated by Baloch’s disqualification.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Tareen’s counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan sought from the judges more time for preparing his case. However, Justice Nisar said the court had two options: either the case is argued today [Tuesday] or the court suspends the tribunal’s verdict until the next hearing after one week.

Advocate Khan left the decision to the judges, saying he would accept whatever the bench decides. The court while issuing notices to all respondents adjourned the case indefinitely.

Arguing before the bench, Baloch’s counsel Shahzad Shaukat claimed that the election tribunal had foreclosed the rights of his client to contest any future elections by attributing corrupt practices to him.

Questioning the legality of the tribunal’s order, the petitioner said the tribunal could not have acted as the examiner of the appellant’s academic credentials, as no such evidence was presented by the prosecution.

“In view of the overwhelming evidence confirming the validity and authenticity of the educational testimonials of the appellant, a contrary finding could not be recorded by the tribunal on its own imagination and abstract arguments having no validity as per law,” the applicant stated.

The petitioner added that NADRA’s report could not be used to invalidate the elections, as the report actually indicted the polls were held normally and no corrupt or illegal practices were employed. In his stay application, Baloch stated that if the order was not suspended, then he would suffer an irreparable loss.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2015.