The Lahore High court on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Federal Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Ishtiaq Khan, because the ECP has been unable to scrutinise assembly candidates since the 2013 elections.
Justice Shehzada Mazhar ordered the police to arrest Khan on February 10 and present him before the court so he can explain why a scrutiny of the candidates, under articles 62 and 63, was not carried out.
Javed Babar filed a petition against the federal secretary after the elections took place in 2013, since the ECP had stated that they were unable to carry out candidate scrutiny before the elections took place.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and ECP reached an understanding over the scrutiny of candidates after the elections for national and provincial assembly seat were done and over with in 2013.
“Scrutiny of 728 members from national and provincial assemblies will continue even after the May 11 polls,” NAB spokesperson Ramzan Sajid had told local media in April 2013.
Earlier NAB Chairman retired Admiral Fasih Bokhari had suggested to the ECP that candidates should be scrutinised after polls and not before them. He was of the view that scrutiny of thousands of candidates could not be completed by the deadline.
It was believed that it would be difficult for ECP and NAB to take any action against legislators after the elections, especially against those who become ministers.
