Supreme Court overrules ECP judgment, reinstates Adil Bazai as MNA

The Supreme Court has set aside judgment of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding deseating of MNA from Balochistan Muhammad Adil Bazai, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Bazai was disqualified by the ECP on a plea of President PML-N on charges of floor crossing during the passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

Bazai owned elections as an independent candidate from the National Assembly constituency NA 262 Quetta 1 in general elections held on February 8, 2024, and joined Sunni Ittihad Counsel after taking oath as MNA.

Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, President, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) filed a reference in the ECP against Adil Bazai under Article 63-A on the basis of an affidavit that he belongs to PML-N and joined another party in the Parliament.

Adil Bazai contradicted the affidavit terming it fake but the ECP granted the plea of the PML-N president disqualifying Adil to be a member of the National Assembly. The decision of the ECP was, however, challenged by Mr Adil Bazai in the Supreme Court.

A five-member bench of the SCP, headed by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, heard the petition and declared on Thursday Adil Bazai as a legitimate member of the parliament. Detailed judgement of the case will be announced later.

The court expressed displeasure over the conduct of the ECP in this particular case observing that there were two affidavits attributed to the petitioner.

The petitioner terms one affidavit fake and accepts the other as genuine. How does the ECP decide to accept the first one and reject the second?

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah remarked that disfranchising voters of a constituency is a serious matter and there should be strict parameters for doing so.

Reporter Amanat Gishkori