14 July 2004	Wednesday	25 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, July 13: PPP parliamentary leader in Senate Mian Raza Rabbani has said his party's position on the issue of 'ineligibility' of Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz to contest elections before resigning from his office is vindicated by a notification issued by the Election Commission on August 13, 2002.

The notification had stated that a federal minister was ineligible to contest the elections till he resigned from office, he said in a statement issued here. "It is a matter of record that the notification of August 13, 2002 was issued by the Election Commission under the powers conferred under section 6 of the Election Commission Order 2002 which were in the field before December 31, 2002 when the Constitution was revived," Mr Rabbani said.

Further, if the August 13 notification was not in the field, then why did the commission issue an other notification, declaring it "inoperative," he asked. "It is also incorrect to suggest that the election campaign has not yet started and therefore, there are no violations that have been committed," he added.

The Conduct of General Election Order 2002 and The Representation of the People Act, 1976, do not specify a particular date as to when the election campaign will commence.

But it is a tradition that when under sections 11 and 12 of The Representation of the People Act 1976, a constituency is called upon to elect a representative, the electoral process, which is an integral part of the campaign, begins, the PPP leader said.