Dual nationality holders ineligible to contest elections; Election Commission of Pakistan

Dual nationality holders ineligible to contest elections; Election Commission of Pakistan

Islamabad: (December 19) the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared today that dual nationality holders will not be eligible to contest polls. The decision will come into force from the coming elections.

Secretary EC Ishtiak Ahmed Khan said that Returning Officers have been asked to obtain a declaration on oath from anyone filing nomination papers for a seat in Parliament or the provincial assemblies.

A press release states that the Election Commission has observed that according to Article 63-1(c) of the Constitution read with Section 99 (1A) (c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1976, the law disqualifies such people
from being elected, or chosen as, and from being a member of the Parliament.

Article 63(1) (c) of the Constitution states that:

A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state.

This provision of the constitution will be implemented for the first time during the Senate by-elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Nomination papers are to be filed on December 20 and 21, and polling will take place at the Provincial
Assembly building in Peshawar on January 4, 2012.

The recent decision by the election commission of Pakistan is expected mark a major change in the political setup of the country. It has been an irony for Pakistan that the country has always been ruled by the people a majority
of which held foreign nationalities, and thus had a lesser stake in the interests of the country.

With this ruling coming into force, all the parliamentarians looking forward to contest polls will either have to stay away from politics in Pakistan or else they will have to let their other nationalities go. Either way, the interference
of the people having lesser stake into the country will be reduced and true representatives of the masses will get a chance to acquire the prestigious positions in the respective assemblies.

The claims of ‘change’ made by a number of politicians will certainly come to reality with such kind of decisions coming out and implemented by the competent bodies.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=6613

Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen on Dec 19 2011. Filed under Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry