Islamabad: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to rule on delay in the oath-taking of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz as member of the National Assembly.
PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry, in a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, has raised questions over the legal repercussions of the delay in taking oath by Ms Nawaz after her victory in the NA-120 by-election held on September 17.
The seat had fallen vacant after a five-member bench of the Supreme Court disqualified the former Prime Minister.
Mr Chaudhry pointed out that the ECP issued a notification of the victory of Kulsoom Nawaz on September 27 but since then, she did not turn up in the National Assembly sessions to take the oath as the member of the Parliament.
“Since then, the three sessions of the NA have passed and the president has summoned the fourth one,” he said.
Ms Nawaz had to be rushed to the UK where she is undergoing cancer treatment even before the by-election.
In the letter, the PTI leader said that constitutionally and legally, a successful candidate has to appear in the House to take the oath as the member of the Parliament as it was a legal requirement. “This is a matter of the fundamental rights of the people of the constituency from where she was declared victorious. Kulsoom Nawaz has failed to represent them despite a lapse of over two months,” he said.
Seeking answers from the ECP, Mr Chaudhary sought a legal and constitutional interpretation on the matter asking for how long the people of the constituency could be deprived of their representation in the Parliament. “For how long the oath-taking could be delayed after the election,” he said adding that this question needed to be addressed.
He said that what was written in the Constitution and relevant laws if an elected representative did not take the oath . “This matter also needs to be investigated why a seriously ill candidate was allowed to contest the by-elections. “Does the ECP has some conduct to ensure that healthy candidates could contest elections?” You are requested to make clear interpretations of the Constitution and the law in the light of these questions so that a clear picture could emerge on this matter of fundamental human rights,” he said in the letter.
