Pakistan poll body dimisses PTA national assembly members' references in disqualification case
May 11, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], May 11 : Seeking the disqualification of its dissident members of the National Assembly after they decided to vote against former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan in the no-confidence motion, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) dismissed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf's references on Wednesday.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan had sent a declaration to former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser seeking the disqualification of 20 party members after they decided to vote against him in the no-confidence motion.
The PTI had filed references against MNAs Noor Alam Khan, Dr Mohammad Afzal Khan Dhandla, Nawab Sher Waseer, Raja Riaz Ahmad, and Ahmed Hussain Deharr among many others.
During the hearing earlier today, the Election Commission of Pakistan rejected the request to accept any more records from PTI, Geo News reported.
PTI's lawyer Faisal Chaudhry requested the court to provide a copy of the reserved verdict, saying that he will appeal against it. He maintained that the dissidents had opposed PTI's request to provide more records.
"Some things couldn't be brought on record properly," Faisal added.
The election commission, in today's short verdict, unanimously said the declaration filed against the MNAs under Article 63(A) was not found in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, while presenting his arguments, Noor Alam Khan's lawyer Gohar Khan maintained that Article 63(A)1 does not apply to Noor.
"The show-cause notice issued by the PTI secretary-general doesn't have legal status. Therefore, Noor is still a PTI member," Gohar argued.
He informed ECP that Noor had stated in response to PTI's show-cause notice that he has neither left PTI nor its parliamentary party.
Gohar contended that his client didn't join any other political party but the media gave an impression that Noor violated the party policy. When asked if Noor cast a vote on the day of voting on the no-confidence motion, Gohar responded in the negative, according to Geo News.
The voting on the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan-led Pakistan government was held in the National Assembly on April 9, with 174 members recording their votes in favour of the motion.
Imran Khan has become the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to lose a no-trust vote in the National Assembly. Notably, no Prime Minister has completed a full five-year tenure in Pakistan so far.
