Supreme Court moved against Senate elections
04 February, 2012
ISLAMABAD: A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday requesting the court to order halt of Senate elections scheduled for March as "about 70 parliamentarians who will be voting in the polls do not hold valid graduation degrees and thus stand disqualified". Mubashir Luqman, a TV anchor, filed the petition through Barrister Syed Ali Zafar under Article 184 (3) of the constitution, making the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) through its secretary and federation respondents. The petitioner prayed the court to direct the ECP secretary not to hold Senate elections, and rule that MNAs and MPAs who held fake degrees stood disqualified as members of national and provincial assemblies. New MNAs and MPAs should be elected in accordance with law, the petition said. The petitioner also requested the court to order fresh by-elections on valid voter lists in 29 constituencies where "void" by-polls [under bogus voter lists] had been held. The petitioner said 29 MNAs and MPAs had been elected in by-elections, which were held under a "bogus, incomplete and invalid electoral list". "Any election held to the Senate on the basis of sitting MNAs and MPAs who includes fake-degree holders and those who are elected through void by-elections would, therefore, not be a valid election under the law and would lead to a blatant violation of the constitution," the petitioner said. He said that if Senate elections were held in March, potential senators would be elected by votes from the members of national and provincial assemblies, adding, "Many of the voters would be those who have fake degrees or who have become members of parliament on account of an invalid by-election." He said many of the potential candidates might become senators on the basis of ineligible votes of such fake degree holders or MNAs and MPAs who had been illegally elected through by-elections. "Deserving people may not be elected senators owing to this unlawful process," he said. The petitioner said if the elections were allowed under the current scenario, this would mean that an "improperly-constituted Senate will become part of parliament". "Such a situation will be a grave constitutional deviation," the petitioner said. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court was moved on Friday to suspend the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) notification for holding by-elections on February 25 on casual seats of the national and provincial assemblies. A civil miscellaneous application was filed in the SC by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan stating that the apex court had passed an order on January 19 restraining the ECP from holding by-elections on casual vacancies on the basis of bogus electoral rolls having as many as 37,185,998 unverified votes. The application stated that despite the February 25 restraining order, which was passed in clear and unambiguous terms in the presence of the ECP secretary, the ECP had issued a notification to hold by-elections on February 25. Khan added in the application that it was evident that the ECP secretary was going to hold by-elections on the basis of voter lists containing large number of unverified votes. He submitted that holding of by-elections using bogus voter lists would amount to a negation of the right to vote, rule of law and the spirit of democracy. He requested the court to suspend the January 27 notification of the ECP and to restrain the commission from holding by-elections on the basis of bogus voter lists. End.
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