IHC jettisons Rashid's petition

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday turned down Sheikh Rashid Ahmad's petition against elimination of some clauses from nomination form in the Election Act 2017. A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Athar Minallah after hearing the arguments dismissed the petition. Justice Athar remarked that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is an autonomous body and it has powers to scrutinize the assets of any politician.
During the hearing, the petitioner's counsel adopted before the court that the parliamentarians enacted the law for not providing information related to their taxes and criminal cases. He also added that the Parliament did not make consultation with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) while making changes in nomination papers.
In the petition, the AML chief sought revival of the certain elections laws and provisions under which a Senate candidate must provide detailed information about his financial resources, expenses on election campaign, dual nationality, family details, details about any pending criminal cases and loans from the financial institutions.
Sheikh Rashid moved this petition through his counsel Barrister Sajeel Sheryar Swati and cited secretary law and justice, secretary parliamentary affairs and chief election commissioner (CEC) as respondents. The chief of AML stated that through this petition, he is seeking indulgence of the court to come to the rescue of Pakistani voters and the democratic system of the country vis-a-vis the enforcement of fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 19 and 19-A of the Constitution for the protection of the voter's freedom of expression and right to information when it comes to parliamentary candidates.
He contended before the court that the nomination forms created under the Act 2017 for candidates have omitted or modified numerous declarations and entries that had been present in the previous nomination forms used by the candidates in prior elections. "The modification of entries relating to declaration of financial disclosure run contrary to Para (n) and (o) of sub Article (1) of Article 63 of the Constitution which disqualify a person from membership of Parliament if the candidate, his spouse or any of his dependents is defaulters of loan or government dues," said the petitioner.
The petitioner also requested the court to direct secretary parliamentary affairs to use its powers under Article 218(3) of the Constitution to call for the necessary information about the particulars, antecedents and details of the contesting candidates through duly sworn affidavit and declare the same to be integral part of the nomination form. He further requested to declare the provisions of Sections 60(2), 110(2) and 137 of Election Act 2017 (along with the forms made under Act 2017) to be against the Articles 19 and 19-A of the Constitution or alternatively, the aforesaid provisions be read in conformity with Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution.