Lahore High Court Suspends Election Commission Of Pakistan Order About MPA Salman Naeem's Disqualification

The Lahore High Court (LHC) Multan Bench on Friday suspended the order of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) about disqualification of MPA Salman Naeem.

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Oct, 2018 ) :The Lahore High Court (LHC) Multan Bench on Friday suspended the order of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) about disqualification of MPA Salman Naeem.

He was elected as the Punjab Assembly member in the July 25 elections from PP-217 Multan, but was later disqualified vide a short order, issued by the ECP on October 1.

He filed a petition challenging the ECP decision. The counsel contended that the ECP exercised powers by virtue of authority vested by Article 18(3) of the Constitution as well as sections 9, 8 and 4 of the Election Act 2017, which did not confer powers for declaring the election of a returned candidate as void.

And, the power could only be exercised under the provisions of Article 225 of the Constitution and the Election Act 2017 provisions.

He said that the ECP act in determining the application, filed by the respondents, was outwith the authority of ECP.

The counsel stated that only the superior courts could have passed that order.

Justice Shahid Karim of Lahore High Court Multan Bench admitted the petition for regular hearing and suspended the ECP order. The court ordered that if the detailed orders were provided by the ECP, then the petitioner should append that order through an application which should be placed on record.

The LHC also issued notices to respondents including the ECP for Nov 6, the next date of hearing.