ECP deseats MNA Adil Khan Bazai

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has deseated member of National Assembly from Balochistan constituency NA-262 Adil Khan Bazai for violating party police, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Pronouncing its reserved verdict on Thursday, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif had sent a reference to National Assembly Speaker for deseating Adil Bazai for negating party’s policy.

The Election Commission was moved against the MNA, elected from a Quetta constituency in the February 8 general elections, for allegedly not voting on the money bill and then staying away at the time of voting on the recently-approved 26th Constitutional Amendment.

The ECP bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, had reserved its verdict on the matter last week. During the hearing, Bazai’s lawyer had maintained that his client had never joined the PML-N and asserted that a fake affidavit had been submitted in his name with the ECP and asked for a forensic audit of the affidavit.

He pointed out that details of the notary public were not even recorded on the stamp paper for the affidavit. He also contended that oath commissioner’s statement was on record that Adil Bazai never appeared before him. He claimed that Bazai was an independent member, according to the National Assembly’s website until September 27, 2024. The lawyer pointed out that it was mentioned in the PML-N reference that Bazai never sat on the government benches.

To this, the CEC said that if Bazai had submitted an affidavit to join the Sunni Ittehad Council, then why had he not contacted the Election Commission.

ECP member from Sindh Nisar Ahmad Durrani also asked as to why he remained silent for so long.

The counsel responded that his client remained silent because the affidavit had never come to light. He contended that the NA speaker did not conduct any investigation into the reference.

Reporter Usman Khan