- SC disqualifies former minister from contesting election under Article 63 (1) (g) , fines him Rs0.1m
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday held Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former minister of state for interior Tallal Chaudhry guilty in a contempt of court case, rendering him disqualified from contesting elections for five years under Article 63 (1) (g) of the Constitution.
According to Article 63 (1) (g) of the Constitution, a person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), if he has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction…unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release.
A three-member bench of the SC headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed announced the verdict and sentenced the PML-N leader “till the rising of the court”.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa also sat on the bench which handed down the verdict.
Moreover, Chaudhry was also fined Rs0.1 million.
Earlier on July 11, the apex court had reserved its verdict and directed the PML-N leader to ensure his presence on Thursday.
According to a notification issue earlier on February 2, the SC had initiated contempt of court proceedings against the former minister due to “derogatory and contemptuous speeches/statements” with regard to the court.
In his response, Chaudhry’s response had stated that anything that would bring “hatred, ridicule or contempt” against the court was “not even the last thing on the respondent’s mind”.
His response also stated, “Whatever has been said might have been taken into account without relevance to the context due to media reporting.”
“There is no allegation on the answering respondent that any action or conduct of the answering respondent tends to prejudice the determination of a matter pending before the court,” the PML-N leader’s response had also read.
In June this year, the apex court had taken a similar suo motu notice against former federal privatisation minister and PML-N leader Daniyal Aziz for contempt and sentenced him “till rising of the court”.
The verdict had automatically disqualified Aziz from the National Assembly (NA) and barred him from contesting the recently held general polls.
Moreover, PML-N leader and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday has said he will not offer any comment on the court’s decision in regard to Talal Chaudhry as the nation is seeing everything.
He held that the worst rigging had taken place in this year’s election. “All the parties are crying against polls rigging. All the records of rigging were broken in this election,” he said.
He went on to say that the slogan of “give respect to the vote” gained strength and that the people reached assemblies due to it.
