National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has rejected a reference seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif under Article 63 (2) of the constitution.
Giving ruling over the reference filed by lawyer Muhammad Azhar Siddique and others on Thursday, Speaker Sadiq said he was not bound to forward the reference to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for a decision. He stated that the National Assembly’s August 29 debate reveals that the allegations in the reference are incorrect.
“Reference being legally and factually baseless does not result in any disqualification under Article 63(2) of the constitution and therefore I decline to refer it the ECP,” the speaker said in his ruling.
The ruling states that Article 62 applies on a person to be elected or chosen as a member of parliament prior to elections.
The speaker, while referring to Article 66 (1) of the constitution, said that any statement by a parliamentarian calls for an internal proceeding. Sadiq added that the same article provides complete protection to any parliamentarian from any proceeding for anything said by him at any forum.
Article 66(1) of the constitution says there shall be freedom of speech in parliament and no member shall be be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in parliament
“The qualifications for membership of parliament as laid down in Article 62 of the constitution are qualifications of the nature. Therefore, no notice can be given or entertained by the Speaker with reference to Article 62 of the constitution as prayed, after the member has been elected by electorate,” the ruling states.