-ECP issues two notices to Imran in prohibited funding and ineligibility cases
-Summons Khan on 18th and 23rd
-Accepts PDM’s Reference seeking Chairman PTI disqualification for hearing
By Makhdoom
Shehryar Babar
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Friday issued two notices to the ousted Prime Minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan, summoning him for hearings in two references.
The election commission issued one notice to Khan in the foreign funding case — the verdict of which was announced earlier this week.
According to the cause list issued by the election body, Khan has been summoned on August 23 at 10am.
The notice has been issued after the ECP, in a unanimous verdict in the case which was filed in 2014 by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar, said it has found that the PTI received prohibited funding.
Separately, the ECP has also accepted for hearing a reference seeking the disqualification of Imran from public office filed by a group of MNAs associated with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
It has been fixed for hearing on August 18, according to the commission’s website. The reference was filed yesterday by MNA Barrister Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha to Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja, carrying signatures of lawmakers Agha Hassan Baloch, Salahudeen Ayubi, Ali Gohar Khan, Syed Rafiullah Agha and Saad Waseem Sheikh. It demanded the ECP to disqualify Imran under Sections 2 and 3 of Article 63 of the Constitution, read with Article 62(1)(f). It also carried documentary evidence to corroborate their claims against the ex-PM.
Article 62(1)(f) says: “A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless […] he is sagacious, righteous and non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law.”
Article 63(2) says: “If any question arises whether a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) has become disqualified from being a member, the Speaker or, as the case may be, the Chairman shall, unless he decides that no such question has arisen, refer the question to the Election Commission within thirty days and should he fail to do so within the aforesaid period it shall be deemed to have been referred to the Election Commission.”
While, Article 63(3) reads: “The Election Commission shall decide the question within ninety days from its receipt or deemed to have been received and if it is of the opinion that the member has become disqualified, he shall cease to be a member and his seat shall become vacant.”
