Overseas Pakistanis should have right to vote: SC
31 October, 2012
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that overseas Pakistanis should have right of vote in the general elections.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja made the observation during the hearing of a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, in which he requested that the overseas Pakistanis be given right of vote in the general elections.
The court said that a transparent mechanism should be finalised in this regard by the Election Commission of Pakistan in consultation with the government, as the same practice was in place in around 25 to 30 countries across the globe. PTI's counsel, Hamid Khan, could not appear before the court on Tuesday. The court adjourned the case until November 7 on the request of one of his assistants.
The same bench also heard a petition filed by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in which the party contended that the election commission had excluded from the voters' list names of people hailing from Swat who are settled in Karachi for the last 35 years but had registered their votes in Swat. The court asked the counsel for the JI to approach the election commission in this regard. There is a provision of the commission that allows people to register their vote on temporary residential address.
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