IHC dismisses plea seeking disqualification of three PTI MNAs

By
Awais Yousafzai
|
PTI MNAs Maleeka Bokhari, Tashfeen Safdar and Kanwal Shauzab. Photo: File

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNAs seeking the disqualification of three Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) MNAs elected on reserved seats for women.

IHC’s Justice Aamir Farooq issued the verdict in the case seeking the disqualification of PTI MNAs Kanwal Shauzab, Maleeka Bokhari and Tashfeen Safdar. The three lawmakers were elected on reserved seats for women from Punjab.

The petition was filed by PML-N MNAs Tahira Bukhari and Shaista Pervaiz,seeking the disqualification of PTI MNAs under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

In December last year, Justice Farooq had reserved the judgment after hearing arguments from all sides. 

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The petitioners in their plea had claimed that Bokhari was not eligible to participate in the general election as she held a dual nationality at the time of submission of her nomination papers.

She submitted her nomination papers on June 10, 2018, and left the British nationality on June 11, there she misled the Election Commission of Pakistan and should be disqualified, said the petitioners

The petitioner also alleged MNA Safdar hid the information related to her dual nationality in her nomination papers.

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They claimed that the MNA had left the dual nationality in 2013 and in an affidavit had said she neither holds dual nationality nor applied for it, however, the nomination papers told a different story.

The petition added third MNA, Shauzab had given wrong information in documents to shift her vote from Islamabad to Rawalpindi.