On Thursday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected PML-N Senator Pervaiz Rasheed’s nomination papers for the upcoming Senate elections scheduled to take plan on March 3, 2021.
Prior to this development, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had challenged the Senator’s nomination via a petition filed by MPA Zainab Omar through her lawyer Rana Mudassar in January. According to the petition, Pervaiz Rasheed submitted his nomination papers for general seats whereas his affidavit was for a technocrat seat.
Read more: Explainer: How is the voting done in Pakistan’s Senate elections?
Moreover, PTI had also alleged that Pervaiz Rasheed owed millions of rupees to the Punjab House, and the petition stated that this was a clear violation of Article 63-b of the Constitution, hence, he should not be allowed to contest.
The Election Commission gave Pervaiz Rasheed till Thursday (today) to provide the missing documents, which he failed to do despite presenting in front of the Election Commission. However, Pervaiz Rasheed plans to challenge this rejection and address the election tribunal.
Read more: Who is responsible to ensure transparency in Senate Elections?
In another development, the ECP had announced today to accept the nomination papers of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. He is a member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who had served the country as a Prime Minister from 2008 till 2012. He was disqualified by the Supreme Court on account of contempt of court.
As per the order issued by the officer of the returning officer, Yousaf Raza Gillani was convicted under Article 63 (1) (g) of the Constitution, however, five years have passed since his conviction which makes him eligible to contest in the Senate elections again from Islamabad.
Read more: Senate Elections: Abdul Hafeez Shaikh’s nomination challenged
The order states, “All the cases mentioned in the nomination papers are pending adjudication in different courts as such in the absence of conviction, a candidate cannot be barred from contesting elections as it is the basic principle of law that every person is innocent unless proven guilty.”
“It may be noted that under Article 63 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, there are certain disqualifications which are of temporary nature and a person disqualified under Article 63 can become qualified after a lapse of the certain period as mentioned therein,” the order added.
Furthermore, Faisal Vawda is another candidate whose nomination papers were accepted by the ECP recently. Vawda, who is the Federal Minister for Water Resources, will be contesting the Senate elections from Sindh.
Read more: When did PTI get a video of lawmakers receiving bribes before Senate elections 2018?