ECP sends PPP senator Abdul Qayyum Somroo home
19 March, 2013
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared the election of Pakistan People's Party Senator Abdul Qayyum Somroo as void, while accepting a petition challenging his nomination paper. Abdul Qayyum Somroo was elected on a seat reserved for technocrats and was vacated by former Finance Minister Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh following his resignation. A Pakistani citizen, Tariq Ahmed had challenged the nomination papers of the Abdul Qayyum Somroo on the grounds that he was not fit for the seat reserved for technocrats. A three member bench of the ECP comprising Riaz Kiyani, Member Punjab, Shehzad Akbar, Member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fazal-ur-Rehman, Member Balochistan after completing the hearing of the process announced their judgment on Monday evening. A senior member of the bench remarked that the petitioner has challenged the eligibility of the candidate by challenging his nomination papers and ECP feels that the contentions and grounds that were made part of the petition were correct. Somroo's counsel had objected that ECP was not authorised to maintain this petition but the bench overruled this objection arguing that section 218 empowers ECP to take such action. The petitioner's counsel, Shahid Jami says the ECP should now announce a schedule for re-election on this seat. If the schedule for re-election exceeds thirty days, then the new Sindh assembly would be able elect a senator on the vacant seat, argued Jami. End.
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