Musharraf not liable for disqualification under Article 63: Pak CEC

Pakistans Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Justice (retired) Qazi Muhammad Farooq, has clarified that in the light of the Supreme Court decisions, a President is only required to be qualified to be a Member of Parliament, as provided under Article 62, and consequently is not liable to disqualification under Article 63 of the Constitution.

Islamabad, Sep 18 : Pakistan's Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Justice (retired) Qazi Muhammad Farooq, has clarified that in the light of the Supreme Court decisions, a President is only required to be qualified to be a Member of Parliament, as provided under Article 62, and consequently is not liable to disqualification under Article 63 of the Constitution.

The apex court has ruled that "the President is only required to be qualified to be a Member of Parliament ... and is consequently not hit by the disqualifications contained in Article 63 of the Constitution," he said.

He said, in light of the precedents set by the Supreme Court in its rulings, the Presidential Election Rules, 1988, required amendment to exclude the words: "Or is subject to any disqualification from being elected as, and from being, a member of the National Assembly," to bring it in conformity with the provisions of Article 41(2).

Therefore, the requisite amendment was made with the approval of the President, the Daily Times quoted him, as saying.

The rule has been updated for all candidates and is not person specific, he added.

Earlier, an Election Commission official here said the poll panel has amended Presidential Election Rules, so that Article 63 of the Constitution that has a clause to bar government servants from participating in elections unless they have been retired for at least two years, no longer applies to the President.

The rule has been amended under the provision of Supreme Court judgements of 2002 and 2005 that Article 63 is not applicable to the President in toto, Secretary, EC, Kunwar Irshad said.

The Article mainly dealt with the disqualification of MPs, but the same conditions applied to a presidential candidate too, he added.

ANI