A division bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday disqualified Rauf Khalid, a Pakistan People's Party member of Punjab Assembly (MPA) from Bahawalnagar, for being convicted by an accountability court.
The bench, while allowing two writ petitions, filed by former minister for religions affairs Ijaz-ul-Haq, who lost his election against Rauf Khalid from PP-284 Bahawalnagar, and Nasarullah Khan, a voter from the same constituency.
Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, appearing on behalf of Ijaz-ul-Haq, argued that Rauf Khalid was convicted for corruption and corrupt practices and fraud under the NAB Ordinance and even his appeal was dismissed by the LHC.
Ali Zafar submitted that as such Rauf Khalid suffered from pre-election disqualification under the provisions of Article 63(h) of the Constitution, which provided that any person, convicted of corrupt practices, stood disqualified from contesting the elections or holding or continuing to hold the office of MPA.
In 2001, an accountability court awarded a collective rigorous imprisonment of six years and imposed a fine of Rs 700,000 to Rauf. The court also declared him disqualified for 10 years for holding any public office. The court, while accepting the petitions, disqualified respondent MPA Rauf Khalid as being ineligible to contest the elections, and directed the Election Commission to act accordingly.
Rauf Khalid had won election as an independent candidate and later he joined PPP. He got 26,888 votes, while Ijaz-ul-Haq was runner up candidate by obtaining 24,232 votes.