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The Supreme Court on Thursday resumed hearing a set of petitions to determine whether the disqualification period for a lawmaker was five years or a lifetime ban.
A seven-member larger bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, comprising Justice Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali is hearing the case.
As the February 8 general elections approach, the apex court seeks to determine once and for all the raging debate on whether aspirants disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution could contest polls in light of the amendments in the Elections Act 2017.
The law, which sets the precondition for a member of parliament to be “sadiq and ameen” (honest and righteous), is the same provision under which former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan were disqualified.
The legal impasse arose in view of a 2018 SC judgment in the Samiullah Baloch case, when the apex court ruled that disqualification handed down under Article 62(1)(f) was supposed to be “permanent”. The verdict was issued by former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, ex-CJP Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.
However, in June 2023, an amendment was brought in the Elections Act 2017, specifying that the period of the electoral disqualification will be for five years, not for life.
The dilemma cropped up in the top court last month during an electoral disqualification dispute moved by Sardar Mir Badshah Khan Qaisarani, who had filed nomination papers to contest the 2008 and 2018 elections but was disqualification for producing a fake graduation degree. His appeal is still pending before the Lahore High Court.
Delving deep into the matter of disqualification at the previous hearing, the CJP had questioned why two similarly worded provisions of the Constitution provided different punishments to parliamentarians for the same offence.
He had compared Article 62(1)(f) and Article 63(1)(g) and said the former entrailed a lifetime ban whereas the latter prescribed a five-year ban from parliament.
The court had also appointed senior counsel Faisal Siddiqui, Uzair Karamat Bhandari, and legal adviser Reema Omar as amici to assist the court, expressing its intention to wrap up the case proceedings by Jan 11 as it may create “confusion” for returning officers.
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