The Lahore High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking orders to restrain defaulters of utility bills from contesting the upcoming elections. Earlier, the counsel of the Election Commission of Pakistan in a reply told the court that defaulters of utility bills could be cleared from list of defaulters as soon as they cleared their bills.
A citizen, Naveed Yasin, stated that under Article 63 of the Constitution, a person or his or her spouse or any of his or her dependants who defaulted in payment utility bills in excess of Rs 10,000 could not contest the elections. He submitted that this embargo had not been enforced in the past, paving the path for defaulters to sit in the assemblies. He, therefore, requested the court to direct the ECP to strictly implement the said provision of the Article 63, barring all defaulters from contesting elections.