ECP cannot entertain references?

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) cannot entertain references filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) under Article-63 (2) of the Constitution for the disqualification of the Prime Minister, Punjab Chief Minister, Ishaq Dar, Humza Shabaz and Captain Safdar (Retd), a senior official in the Parliament secretariat told Business Recorder. ECP can entertain a reference filed by a contesting candidate only for disqualification of any elected member within 45 days after election, he added.
A reference for disqualification of any elected member of parliament, including the prime minister, must be filed with the Speaker or Chairman, and if rejected then the option is to file a writ petition in the superior court, the official maintained and dismissed the references filed by PTI and PPP as 'political posturing'. If the two parties are serious about disqualifying the prime minister and his close relatives then they should have filed a reference directly to the Speaker of the National Assembly or file a writ petition in the apex court, he stated.
According to Article-63 (2) and (3) of the Constitution, " (2)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."
"(3) 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." An official of ECP told Business Recorder on condition of anonymity that ECP cannot entertain PTI's and PPP's reference as, according to Representations of People Act 1976 sections 52 to 56, a contesting candidate alone can file a reference for disqualification and that too within 45 days after the election. He said that the Commission cannot entertain reference after this period.
According to section 52(2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1976, "no election shall be called in question except by an election petition made by a candidate for that election. "(2) An election petition shall be presented to the Commissioner within forty-five days of the publication in the official gazette of the name of the returned candidate and shall be accompanied by a receipt showing that the petitioner has deposited at any branch of the National Bank of Pakistan or at a Government Treasury or sub-Treasury in favour of the Commissioner, under the prescribed head of account, as security for the costs of the petition, a sum of one thousand rupees.
"According to section 55 (b) of the Act, (b) full particulars of any corrupt or illegal practice or other illegal act alleged to have been committed, including as full a statement as possible of the names of the parties alleged to have committed such corrupt or illegal practice or illegal act." Prominent lawyer and former Chairman Senate Wasim Sajjad while talking to Business Recorder argued that PPP and PTI have not filed references and instead submitted applications to the ECP which can be debated even if elections were held more than 45 days ago. Wasim Sajjad added that the Speaker or Superior courts are the proper forum for filing a reference or a writ petition for disqualification of elected members.
Former Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui contended that the objections raised in the references filed by PTI and PPP should have been raised in 2013 when nomination papers were submitted to the ECP. It is difficult for the Commission to give a decision on this issue as it would surely be challenged in the Supreme Court.
"The main purpose of the reference is to destabilise the government and political point scoring," he said. Former Senior Justice of Supreme Court Wajihuddin Ahmed said that both PTI and PPP are playing politics.