ECP hears Jamshaid Dasti’s disqualification case

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), while referring to rejection of Jamshaid Dasti’s nomination papers by the Returning Officer, Wednesday said that appellate tribunals hear poll petitions and the speaker sends disqualification cases to the electoral body.

Despite rejection of his papers, Dasti contested the elections and posted a convincing victory from NA-175.

A three-member bench of the commission, headed by Nisar Ahmad Durrani, Member Sindh, heard the petitions regarding the disqualification of PTI Member of the National Assembly Jamshaid Dasti.

Petitioners Ameer Akbar and Zulfiqar Dogar appeared before the ECP bench along with their lawyers, but no one appeared before the commission on behalf of Dasti.

During the hearing, the ECP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Member questioned that if the Returning Officer had rejected Dasti’s nomination papers, then how did he contest the election? The petitioner’s lawyer said that Dasti’s nomination papers were accepted on the orders of the high court. The KP Member said that it remains to be seen whether the high court has this authority.

The bench adjourned the hearing of the case until February 27 and directed the parties to come prepared on both points at the next hearing.

Petitioner Ameer Akbar, who was also a candidate from NA-175, Muzaffargarh, in the February 8 general elections, had filed a petition under Section 137 of the Elections Act 2017 regarding alleged discrepancies found in statement of assets and liabilities submitted by Dasti for the year 2023-24 and a petition under Section 4,8 and 15 of the act.

Similarly, Zulfiqar Dogar had also moved the commission under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution for disqualification of Dasti.