SC quashes lifetime disqualification of PML-N candidate

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday quashed lifetime disqualification of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate, Saifullah Gill, ARY News reported.

The hearing was conducted by a three-member SC bench headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed.

Gul was disqualified by the top court in 2013, and he was also barred from contesting elections because of disparity in his birth date in matric certificate and the computerized national identity card.

The candidate had filed a review appeal in the apex court against his lifetime disqualification over ‘flawed’ date of birth in documents.

Justice Ejazul Hassan asked the lawyer of PML-N candidate whether his client had got his documents corrected and the counsel replied in affirmative.

The court ordered the PML-N candidate to submit the corrected document in the court’s registrar office.

Saifullah Gul was the ticket holder of PML-N from PP-61 (Faisalabad).

The Supreme Court in May 2013 had barred the PML-N candidate from contesting for a Punjab assembly seat. “We direct that the respondent (Chaudhry Saifullah Gill) is restrained from contesting the election from constituency PP-61 Faisalabad,” said an order issued by a three-judge bench headed by then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

PML-Q candidate Khalid Pervaiz Gill had objected to the candidature of Saifullah Gill before a returning officer saying he had presented a fake matriculation certificate. The returning officer had decided the case against Saifullah Gill.