- Elections watchdog says PML-N’s nominees for Senate polls will contest as independent candidates
- Rejects new nominations forwarded by party chairman Raja Zafarul Haq
- Legal experts say ECP leaves PML-N vulnerable to ‘horse-traders’ as its MPs won’t be legally bound to vote for independent candidates
ISLAMABAD: In a major setback for the ruling party, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday declared all Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) nominees for the Senate elections as independent candidates in the wake of the Supreme Court’s verdict that nullified Nawaz Sharif’s directives as the party chief.
The ECP’s decision to reject the nominations was taken in the aftermath of the verdict, which had removed Nawaz Sharif from his post as the party head and nullified all official party decisions taken by him following the July 28, 2017, Panama Papers judgment.
The election watchdog said that the polls will be held as per schedule; however, it added that the PML-N’s candidates cannot run for the polls on the party tickets. This decision, many political observers believe, is likely to open the doors for ‘horse-trading’ in the crucial Senate vote.
The PML-N’s candidate contesting the upcoming PP-20 Sargodha by-polls was also declared as the independent candidate. The by-polls will be held in March 2018.
Earlier in the day, PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq ─ accompanied by party leaders Anusha Rehman Khan and Tariq Fazal Chaudhry ─ called on the chief election commissioner and submitted a petition requesting to re-issue tickets to the party’s Senate candidates.
He told reporters outside the ECP that as chairman of the party, he held the authority to issue party tickets. He said that he had submitted an authority letter and other relevant documents to the ECP. However, the ECP rejected the PML-N plea.
Haq, when asked about the prospect of a new leader for the party, said that a consultation process had been initiated to appoint an acting president. The PML-N’s central working party will appoint a new president next week.
In a bid to resolve the problems emanating from the SC verdict, the ECP also decided to hold a meeting with all parliamentary parties to discuss matters relating to elections, including delimitation of constituencies, and electoral rolls.
The meeting will be held on February 26 [Monday], at the ECP headquarters, during which the ECP will take all parliamentary parties into confidence regarding the prevailing uncertainty surrounding the upcoming Senate elections, a source said.
‘PML-N COULD FALL VICTIM TO HORSE-TRADING’:
Legal experts believe that the ECP decision may badly hurt the ruling party as its lawmakers were no more [legally] bound to vote for the independent candidates nominated by the party in the absence of the party tickets. In case the party lawmakers violate the party discipline, the ruling party cannot move the ECP against the lawmakers under the defection clause and the violators could go scot-free.
Talking to Pakistan Today, senior lawyer leader Hamid Khan said that since the PML-N candidates would be contesting the polls as independents, the party’s MPs were not legally bound to vote for them.
“Yes, morally they should vote for the party nominees but in the absence of the party tickets, the lawmakers would not be bound to vote for them. Moreover, since the voting would be through a secret ballot, there is a likelihood of potential disciplinary issues for the ruling party,” he added.
He further said the ruling party was already facing disciplinary problems in Balochistan where the party lawmakers had rebelled against the party leadership and fielded independent candidates for the Senate polls.
“Hence, it would be a big challenge for the party leadership. Moreover, the independent candidates are not bound to join the PML-N after winning the elections. So problems for the PML-N are manifold,” he added. He said in Punjab, the PML-N had a blessing in disguise that one needs at least 47 votes for election on a single general seat.
“So it would be difficult for any candidate to buy so many votes. But in Balochistan, this would be easy,” he added.
Justice (r) Mohammad Tariq said that since the PML-N candidates’ nomination papers had already been accepted by the ECP and scrutiny process was also over, there would be no problems for the ruling party.
He, however, admitted that it would be interesting to watch whether or not the PML-N nominees would join the party after winning the election. “They would still have a choice to make. So the horse-trading stage is yet to come,” he said.
Shaikh Ahsan Advocate said that the PML-N was facing a major issue due to the ECP decision that there would be no legal bar on their lawmakers to toe the party policy.
“Yes, morally the PML-N legislators would be bound to follow the party directives but in legal terms, their nominees would be independent candidates. So you never know what happens when the D-Day comes,” he said and added that if any lawmaker deviates from the party direction, he/she could not be tried under the defection clause even if it is proved that he violated the party discipline.
