ECP rejects disqualification plea against Ishaq Dar

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday rejected disqualification plea against finance minister Ishaq Dar, ARY News reported.

As per details, ECP announced the reserved verdict on Leader of the Opposition Dr Shahzad Waseem’s disqualification plea against the PML-N leader.

The ECP declared the finance minister Ishaq Dar qualified and ordered to dispose of the plea urging the ECP to declare vacant the Senate seat of the PML-N leader.

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reserved a verdict on a petition seeking to declare the Senate seat of former finance minister Ishaq Dar vacant for not taking the oath.

The counsel argued that the notification of Ishaq Dar’s success in the Senate seat was issued on March 09, 2018, while on March 29 same year, this notification was suspended.

After the dismissal of a petition from the Supreme Court, that notification was restored, counsel said. “A government notification was not applicable to him. How could he have taken oath when notification of his success on the seat was suspended,” counsel argued before the ECP panel hearing the case?

It is pertinent to mention here that finance minister Ishaq Dar was elected as a senator in a technocrat seat from Punjab in 2018. He could not take an oath due to his stay in London. However, the SC suspended his membership over his failure to appear in court on May 8, 2018.