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Candidates not bound to appear before ROs for nomination papers scrutiny: ex-ECP secretary

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  • Election Act says candidate not required to be present.
  • ECP amended Election Order 2002 in 2007, says Dilshad. 
  • Scrutiny of nomination papers will last till December 30.

ISLAMABAD: Former Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) secretary Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad has said that a candidate does not need to appear before the returning officer while filing nomination papers or during scrutiny, The News reported Wednesday. 

Dilshad’s statement came after it was reported that the nomination papers of such candidates who are in hiding or declared proclaimed offenders are at risk of being rejected if they do not turn up before their relevant ROs upon summoning. 

According to Section 62 of the Election Act, 2017, the candidate is not required to be present at the time of scrutiny of nomination papers.

The former ECP secretary said that an election order was issued by former President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in 2002, under which the candidate was required to be present while filing nomination papers.

Dilshad said the election order was malicious and aimed at targeting former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif so that they could not appear before the returning officer. 

He said that in 2007, the ECP amended the Election Order 2002, after which Bhutto and Sharif did not need to submit their nomination papers and appear in person at the time of scrutiny.

“At the time of scrutiny of nomination papers, the candidate’s election agent, proposer and a voter who has registered an objection under sub-section (1) shall be present. The returning officer shall give him reasonable opportunity of scrutinising all nomination papers. Nowhere in this section is mentioned that the candidate must be present before the returning officer at the time of submission of nomination papers or scrutiny,” he added.

He said it was a very important legal point that every candidate needed to understand. He maintained that 32,000 nomination papers had been filed, which was a record. “With this, the talk of snatching nomination papers of some candidates became ineffective,” he claimed.

The scrutiny will last till Saturday (December 30). As per the ECP, appeals against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers can be filed by January 3, 2024, which will be decided by January 10, 2024.

The Election Commission will publish the revised list of candidates on January 11, 2024, while candidates can withdraw their papers by January 12, 2024.

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Imran Khan’s bail request in the Toshakhana-II case has had its objections dismissed.

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In the Toshakhana-II case, the Islamabad High Court has dismissed the objections to PTI founder Imran Khan’s bail request.

IHC instructed the registrar’s office to schedule the hearing for the case for Monday.

Imran Khan’s attorneys, Shaheena Shahab, Ayesha Khalid, and others, arrived in court today as IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the case.

The registrar’s objections to the plea were questioned by Justice Aurangzeb. In the Toshakhana-II case, Imran Khan submitted a bail application, according to counsel Ayesha Khalid.

Justice Miangul said that previous rulings in circumstances comparable to this one adhered to the consistency principle. In this instance, the petitioner was a man, he added.

Bushra Bibi was given bail because she was a woman, according to the justice, and an application like this one was denied yesterday.

Given that the case action date was November and the power of attorney was executed in July, Justice Aurangzeb raised a concern about the timing.

Justice requested the help of Advocate Shah Khawar in this case.

When an applicant was held in jail, Shah Khawar retorted that it was standard procedure to obtain signatures on required documents, such as a power of attorney.

Imran Khan’s attorney, Shaheena Shahab, asked the court to send out notices regarding the bail plea. A judge named Aurangzeb said that the law would be observed.

Following arguments, the court dismissed the registrar office’s objections and ordered that the case hearing be scheduled for Monday.

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PTI presents seven nominations to Imran Khan for the judicial commission.

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has proposed seven individuals to its founder, Imran Khan, for consideration as founding members of PTI for membership in the next Judicial Commission.

None of the nominated individuals are attorneys; rather, the roster includes four Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and three senators.

The proposed MNAs are Umar Ayub, Asad Qaiser, Ali Mohammad Khan, and Aamir Dogar, while the senators are Shibli Faraz, Mohsen Aziz, and Aun Abbas Bapi. Sources suggest that the Judicial Commission will include one opposition member from both the National Assembly and the Senate.

The PTI founder will evaluate and endorse two names from the suggested list, which will then be sent to the Speaker for future actions.

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Miller confirmed that Biden’s administration got a letter from a congressman requesting the release of the PTI founder.

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Following his removal as prime minister in 2022, Khan started a protest movement against a coalition of his enemies led by current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Since then, he has been in jail since August 2023 and has been involved in hundreds of cases.

In response to ARY News’ question over the congressmen’s letter during a media briefing in Washington on Monday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated, “We will respond in due course to the members.”

The United States wants to see Pakistan maintain its democracy, Miller stated.

The release of the PTI founder’s wife and sisters was a result of a meeting between the US Deputy Assistant Secretary and a Pakistani government representative in Islamabad, which was further questioned during the press briefing.

“I won’t be addressing that,” Miller said when asked if the United States was involved in their release. Miller did, however, affirm that the conference included the defense of Pakistan’s basic liberties and rights.

Sixty-two members of the US Congress urged President Joe Biden on October 24 to support the release of Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, and other political prisoners.

The congressmen, who included well-known Muslim members Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, said in their letter that the Biden administration should ask Pakistani authorities to guarantee the safety of PTI founder Imran Khan.

They also underlined that US policy should concentrate on Pakistan’s human rights situation and asked that US ambassadors attend the PTI leader’s incarceration.

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