The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has said that it cannot remove Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) minority leader Sardar Soran Singh’s alleged murderer, Baldev Kumar’s name from the priority list. If he is cleared of the allegations, he will have the authority to file a petition against ECP.
According to a ECP spokesperson, the name can only be removed if all the people in the priority list die – that is to say, when the priority list is “exhausted”.
However, at present Kumar’s name is immediately after Soran’s on the priority list. The spokesperson added even if ECP removes Kumar’s name without getting the court’s verdict in the case of Soran’s murder, and later if the court declares Kumar innocent, then the latter can file a writ petition against ECP for removing his name from the list. As a result, Kumar is likely to get the berth legally.
As Kumar has been accused of Soran’s murder, the house members are not ready to sit with him in the assembly hall.
Read more: PTI councillor Baldev Kumar murdered Soran Singh, claims DIG Malakand
An official of the law department quoted Section 8F of Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 in the case.
The section reads that if a seat — reserved for women or non-Muslims in the national or provincial assemblies — falls vacant over death, resignation or disqualification of a member, it shall be filled in by the next person in order or precedent from the party’s list of candidates submitted to ECP under Clause 1.
This means it is not possible for the election commission to remove Kumar’s name, as it was second after Soran’s, as mentioned by the party.
However, the official said if a person is disqualified from a party, his/her name would automatically be removed from the priority list as it is not clearly mentioned in the law that political party cannot submit another priority list after suspending its member who was on that particular list.
In this regard, she added, the law should be very clear but unfortunately, what happened in Soran’s case is something really new.
