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The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday filed a petition with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asking it to block 16 of its 20 de-seated dissenters from contesting the Punjab by-elections scheduled for July 17.
The ECP, in May, deseated 25 PTI members of the Punjab Assembly for voting against party instructions during the election for the provincial chief minister. Of these, 5 were on reserved seats who have already been replaced, while 20 were elected MPAs; all 20 are now contesting the by-elections from their respective constituencies as Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) candidates.
“The party tickets, by PMLN, have been given to these defectors as a reward for their participation in a conspiracy which succeeded due to their unholy, immoral and unlawful defection,” read the petition filed by Advocate Faisal Fareed. Claiming that the lawmakers were “judicially stigmatized” after being deseated, the petition contends that they cannot contest the elections.
Citing Article 5 of the Constitution, the petition claims the former lawmakers were required to ensure their personal and official conduct met the best standards of democratic norms and integrity of their office. “They contumaciously violated the same and caused the downfall of their own government in Punjab. They, without any scruples, violated their party oath as well as the oath taken under Article 65 read with Article 127 along with their oath taken as contained in the Third Schedule to the Constitution,” it said, adding that under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, the candidates were no longer eligible to contest or to be elected as members of the Punjab Assembly.
According to the petition, the ECP must ensure anyone who did not meet the criteria of Articles 62 and 63 was barred from contesting elections. It urged the ECP to prevent the respondents from taking part in the upcoming by-polls and, in the interim, issue instructions to all concerned not to notify the poll results till a decision on the petition.