The Lahore High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and a law officer, asking them to submit replies on Thursday (today) in a petition challenging the new format of the nomination papers allegedly favouring former tax defaulters.
The petitioner, Muhammad Naveed Yaseen, through his counsel, Fahad Ahmed Siddiqi, submitted that the ECP realised certain mistakes in the nomination forms and made 16 changes in it. He said the contents of Serial No 3 (ii) of the Nomination Form-I and Declaration and Oath was contrary to the Constitution and should be declared illegal and unconstitutional.
He said by inserting Sub-Clause (ii) in Clause 3 of the nomination form, a deliberate attempt had been made to "fail the effects of Article 63 (1) (o) of the Constitution". He said the content of this clause given in the form "is directly in contradiction with the provisions of Article 63 (1)(o)". He, therefore, requested the court to declare the content of Serial No 3 (ii) of the Nomination Form-1 in direct contradiction with the provisions of Article 63(1) (o) of the Constitution.