Chief Justice orders vote right to overseas Pakistanis

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Thursday directed that voting right should be granted to the overseas Pakistanis.

He was hearing a case pertaining to voting right to overseas Pakistanis. He also directed that the overseas Pakistan should be made a part of the voting in the election process.

He directed the Election Commission to chalk out an electric mechanism enabling the overseas voters to exercise their franchise right.

The court has now adjourned the hearing till Friday.

The Supreme Court also declared as constitutional the new nomination forms – which are to be filled by all contesting candidates for the upcoming elections.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry made this remark during the hearing of a case on electoral reforms.

The chief justice said that it is the right of the voters to know about the person who will be representing them.

The hearing of the case was adjourned till March 15.

The law ministry’s had earlier stated that the ECP was not authorised to make amendments in the nomination form on its own, without fulfilling the legal requirement of getting it approved by the president.

The apex court, however, had given the green signal to commission to amend its rules without getting any formal permission from the government to ensure free and fair polls.

“Why does the ECP feel so weak to change its rules necessary to make the polls free and fair, especially after the apex court had explained in June last year that all steps must be taken to make elections just and fair?” the chief justice had remarked.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=39026

Posted by Tahir Khan on Mar 14 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.