ECP seeks written reply from Gilani till April 5

SARDAR SIKANDER SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Monday sought written reply from former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani till April 5 over video scandal case.

A four-member ECP bench led by Member (Punjab) former Justice Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi heard the case.

At the hearing, Malik Javed, the counsel for Gilani and his son Ali Haider Gilani, questioned the maintainability of the case. The counsel took the stance that elder Gilani was not directly accused in the petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Members National Assembly Maleeka Bokhari and Farrukh Habib, the petitioners against Gilani.

The ECP directed the respondents to file written reply in the case before the hearing was adjourned till April 5.

Petitioners Bokhari and Habib submitted their amended petition which included the names of two other PTI MNAs from Karachi—Faheem Khan and Jamil Ahmed— as witnesses in the case.

Bokhari sounded ‘aggressive’ while giving her arguments in the case. She was asked by ECP bench Member (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) former Justice Irshad Qaiser to ‘calm down.’ “We are here to hear you,” she told Bokhari.

“There are just two PTI MNAs in the video that we knew and we have given their names as witnesses. It’s now entirely up to ECP to investigate and track down other people who were offered bribe for selling their votes in Senate elections,” Bokhari said.

However, ECP Member (Punjab) Altaf Qureshi said the bench would restrict its proceedings to the two MNAs identified in PTI’s petition (as witnesses). “We cannot do anything if nobody is named in the petition. All the suspects need to be clearly identified,” he said.

“It is open and shut case. We drew ECP’s attention towards unprecedented horse-trading ahead of Senate elections but ECP watched the entire melodrama as a silent spectator,” Bokhari told the media outside ECP after the case hearing. “Supreme Court has observed (in related cases) that elections should not only be held free and fair but it should be seen that the polls are held free and fair,” she added.

“It is a golden opportunity for ECP to make an example out of Yousuf Raza Gilani and his son for degrading the sanctity of ballot by engaging into corrupt practices. They both should be disqualified forthwith,” Habib said.

On March 6, Faheem Khan and Jamil Ahmed – the two PTI MNAs– who appeared in the leaked video of Ali Haider Gilani, met Prime Minister Imran Khan and briefed him about the controversy.

Both of them denied they received any bribe from the son of former PM Gilani.

Faheem Khan admitted that he shot the video but he plainly denied of getting money from Gilani. The PTI MNAs also denied that they accepted any bribe, adding the “people who take money do not appear before the public.” Both the lawmakers said they were ready to appear before ECP if summoned.

On March 9, ECP rejected PTI’s demand to stop the issuance of Gilani’s notification as Senator from Islamabad’s General seat, saying there was “no evidence of money or bribe” in the leaked video of his son.

The ECP asked the petitioners to identify the 16 MNAs who are alleged to have sold their vote, and file the petition afresh.

Eyebrows were raised when Yousuf Raza Gilani, the joint candidate of opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), defeated Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Islamabad’s General seat in March 3 Senate election.

Gilani secured 169 votes while Shaikh got 164 votes and seven votes were rejected out of total 340 votes cast. PTI-led ruling coalition has 180 seats compared to 160 seats of opposition in 342-seat National Assembly.

However, in chairman Senate election held March 12, government candidate Sadiq Sanjrani defeated Gilani. Sanjrani grabbed 48 votes compared to Gilani’s 42 votes. Eight votes were rejected out of total 98 votes that were cast in 100-seat Senate whose present strength is 99. After Shaikh’s defeat on March 3, PM Imran Khan slammed ECP for its alleged inability to stop horse-trading in Senate polls.

And after Gilani’s March 12 defeat, the opposition accused the PM and his government of foul play in chairman Senate election, and announced to move superior judiciary.

Last week, Federal Ministers Shafqat Mahmood, Fawad Chaudhry and Shibli Faraz once again slammed the ECP accusing it of failing to take action against horse-trading in Senate polls while demanding the resignations of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and all the four ECP Members; Altaf Qureshi, Irshad Qaiser, Shah Muhammad Jatoi (Sindh) and Nisar Ahmed Durrani (Balochistan).

Also, last week, Chaudhry and Hammad Azhar warned that federal government would move Supreme Court for initiating contempt of court proceedings, if CEC and ECP members do not resign, over commission’s failure to introduce technology in March 3 Senate elections.

It is worth mentioning that Supreme Court directed the ECP in its decision regarding presidential reference on open ballot in Senate elections— to use technology in the Senate polls to ensure transparency. However, the ECP decided to use technology in ‘future Senate elections,’ citing shortage of time.