Disqualification of PTI female MNAs: IHC issues notice to ECP in identical petitions

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday issued notice to Election Commission of Pakistan in identical petitions filed for the disqualification of three female MNAs of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) including Maleeka Ali Bokhari, Tashfeen Safdar and Kanwal Shauzab.
A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq heard three identical petitions filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNAs Begum Tahira Bukhari and Shaishta Pervaiz and issued notices to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and PTI MNAs.
The petitions filed under the Article 199 of Constitution prayed to the court that three MNAs did not meet the criteria to hold membership of the Parliament under Articles 62, 63 of the Constitution as they hid information in their nomination papers. They requested the court to direct the ECP to disqualify them for not being honest and righteous.
After hearing the arguments, the bench issued notices to the ECP, three MNAs and other respondent to submit reply within one week and deferred the proceedings in this connection.
PML-N MNA Begum Tahira Bukhari requested the IHC to disqualify Maleeka Bukhari, while PML-N MNA Shaista Pervaiz challenged the eligibility of PTI legislator Kanwal Shauzab to be the member of National Assembly.
Begum Tahira said that Maleeka is not qualified to be a parliamentarian in term of Article 63 (1)(c) of Constitution. She swore and submitted a false affidavit along with her nomination papers to the returning officer and established her as not Sadiq and Ameen, hence she is not qualified under Article 62(1)(f) of Constitution.
The petitioner alleged that Maleeka concealed that she was a dual citizen at the time of submission of the nomination papers. The FIA also submitted information that she was a dual citizen on the date of the submission of the nomination papers.
Maleeka filed an appeal against the RO under Section 63 of Election Act, 2017 before the Election Tribunal, thus again misleading the tribunal about her eligibility. She played fraud upon the statute and the law and misrepresented to the tribunal.
The petitioner claimed that Election Commission of Pakistan failed to discharge its duty and did not submit the true state of affairs. It did not submit to the Tribunal the correct information, which led to the acceptance of her nomination papers and she was notified as member of the National Assembly against the reserved seats for women from the province of Punjab.
Shaista Pervaiz alleged that Kanwal Shauzab contested Senate election in 2018. In her nomination papers submitted on 10-02-18, she claimed to be resident of Sector I-8/4, Islamabad. The vote certificate she produced showed that her name was entered at Sr. No. 420 in the electoral roll of the federal capital. She lost the said election.
After that she submitted her nomination papers for the National Assembly, Punjab seat on 07-06-18. The returning officer found discrepancies in her nomination papers, finding that her nomination papers were liable to be rejected. She then filed a petition on 08-06-2018 before the IHC concealing the factum of filing of information and submitted a false certificate.
They prayed that memberships of Shauzab and Bokhari be suspended till verdict in the case.