ECP delists All Pakistan Muslim League

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has delisted the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) as a political party, the 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Friday.

 A 14-page written verdict was issued by a three-member bench headed by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.

The commission in a case related to the intra-party elections and allotment of election symbol held that there are no elected office bearers of APML, therefore, the party is virtually non-existent, and its

registration has been suspended.

The APML is the political party founded by former army chief late Pervez Musharraf in 2010.  

The ECP further observed that the party had submitted to the Election Commission regarding the allotment of the election symbol “eagle (Shaheen) through unauthorized office bearers and offices. After the decision, APML could not participate in any kind of elections in the future, and its election symbol, Shaheen (Eagle) was also taken back.

The Election Commission rejected APML application on the following grounds.

 Due to the non-existence of the elected office-bearers in accordance with the party constitution and the provisions of the Act of 2017, the party has been unable to provide valid consolidated statements of accounts of the last four years which is the requirement of Article 17(3) of the Constitution read with Section 210 of the Act of 2017.  It adds that the APML has failed to fulfill the requirement of sections 209 and 210 of the Act of, 2017 which is one of the prerequisites for enlistment of a political party in terms of section 202.

The Election Commission further said that the symbol Eagle becomes available for allocation in accordance with law.

 It is pertinent that the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) led by Jahangir Tareen approached the ECP for the party registration and sought the ‘Eagle [Shaheen]’ election symbol.

IPP office-bearers submitted the application for party registration with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Moreover, the political party sought the ‘Eagle [Shaheen]’ election symbol. However, this request of the IPP for a specific symbol was rejected. 

A four-member commission, led by ECP Sindh's Nisar Durrani, heard the requests for election symbols. The commission suggested the election symbol of a sparrow to the IPP, as the symbol of an eagle, which the IPP had requested, was already held by the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), founded by the late military ruler, Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

The IPP went to an appeal against the decision. On the other hand, some office bearers of APML also contested for the symbol.  

 

Reporter: Usman KHan