The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has rejected PTI’s plea seeking the disqualification of former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani over his son’s video scandal.
According to details, a three-member bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, heard the disqualification case. The commission said it found no directly incriminating evidence against the senator. Therefore, Gillani will remain the senator, the verdict said.
To clarify, PTI had filed petitions against Yousaf Raza Gillani after a video of his son Ali Haider went viral. The 2021 video showed Ali Haider allegedly telling a lawmaker to waste his vote in the Senate elections.
Read more: Yousaf Raza Gillani files appeal to get Chairman Senate removed
PTI’s official Twitter account tweeted out the video and it went viral. Moreover, former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Dr. Shahbaz Gill described it as “shameless”, calling on the ECP to take action against Gilani.
Son of #YousafRazaGilani Ali Haider Gilani's leaked video. #alihaidergillani #SenateElections2021 pic.twitter.com/7uOVGXxehK
— The Pakistan Daily (@ThePakDaily) March 2, 2021
Important to note at that time, Yousaf Raza Gillani was contesting the Senate elections against the PTI’s Abdul Hafeez Shaikh from Islamabad. His son, Haider Ali Gillani, was a Punjab MPA and was campaigning for his father. Interestingly, the video became viral amid the senate elections.
In March 2021’s Senate elections, Yousaf Raza Gillani was declared the Senate opposition leader. He secured 169 votes. Meanwhile, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh got 164 votes.
As a result of the video, PTI leaders Farrukh Habib, Maleeka Bokhari, Aliya Hamza Malik, and Kanwal Shauzab moved the electoral body against the two Gillanis.
ECP-PTI discord
Pertinent to mention, ECP and PTI share tense relations. To clarify, PTI has been very critical of ECP. Earlier, PTI held country-wide protests against the electoral body.
The protests were held outside ECP offices in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Multan, Hyderabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, and other cities of the country. Furthermore, PTI Chairman Imran Khan frequently demands that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja resign from his post.
According to PTI, CEC’s Raja goes to “extremes of impartiality and dishonesty”. Additionally, PTI believes that ECP is only targetting PTI in the foreign funding case. Earlier, PTI asked the ECP to carry out scrutiny of all parties without any discrimination. However, ECP rejected PTI’s plea.
Read more: PTI holds country-wide protests against ECP