A seven-member bench of the Supreme Court will hear a petition filed against the condition of graduation for Senators, Members of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies on Friday.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Faqir Muahammad Khokhar, Justice Ejaz-ul-Hassan, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Yousaf, Justice Moosa K. Leghari, Justice Syed Zawwar Hussain Jaffery, and Syed Sakhi Hussain Bukhari will hear the constitutional petition.
The petition was filed in the Supreme Court by Advocate Kamran Murtaza as counsel for petitioners Muhammad Nasir Mehmood of Faisalabad and Shameer Ahmed of Zahir Peer, district Rahim Yar Khan. Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum will appear in the court on notice.
Malik Qayyum has already given his point of view about the condition of BA for members of the assemblies before the court on the last hearing of the case. The Attorney General said that the imposition of the graduation condition was a bad, discriminatory law that deprived around 99 percent people from contesting elections.
He pleaded that the condition will lead to an elite democracy and should be removed in the larger interest of the public. The petitioners have pleaded that the laws under which the condition was enforced be declared ultra vires of the Constitution.
The Federation of Pakistan through the Secretary, Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights Division, has been made respondent in the petition. Petitioners have raised a number of questions about the graduation condition, especially whether it has served any purpose in the last five years. They have contended that the law was made with mala fide intention and ulterior motive.
The petition says among the 160 million population, the rate of literacy is 35 percent and the number of graduates in Pakistan out of total 60 million voters is not more than 200,000. Both the petitioners have pleaded that the provisions of Section 99 (1) (CC) of the Representation of People Act, 1976 as well as Article 8 A of the Chief Executive Order No 17 of 2002 may be declared ultra vires to the Constitution and set aside.
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