ISLAMABAD: Arsalan Iftikhar, son of former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, announced on Monday that he would file a reference against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan who, he alleged, was not eligible to contest elections. He submitted an application to the Election Commission to obtain a copy of his nomination papers.

Dr Arsalan’s recent appointment as vice-chairman of Balochistan’s Board of Investment had been described by the PTI chief as a reward for alleged favours doled out by his father during last year’s elections to a party.

In the application aimed at initiating legal proceedings to seek Mr Khan’s disqualification as a member of parliament, Dr Arsalan claimed that according to evidence gathered by him, the PTI chief was not qualified to contest elections.

He said Mr Khan has not made correct declaration about his children in the nomination papers.

He said the matter regarding a daughter had been adjudicated upon by the Los Angeles Superior Court in the US, where Mr Khan had not denied the parentage.

The application alleged that Mr Khan had grossly violated Article 62 of the Constitution and proved that he was not a truthful person with a good moral character; thus he was neither righteous nor sagacious and had rendered himself to be disqualified from being a member of parliament.

Commenting on the move, PTI spokesperson Dr Shirin Mazari said that Arsalan Iftikhar was known to be a corrupt person and his application should not be entertained. She rejected the allegations levelled in the application and said such charges had been hurled on Mr Khan in the past as well.

PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi went a step ahead and alleged that Dr Arsalan had been fielded as an opponent of the PTI by the ruling PML-N.

The PML-N refuted the allegation and said it did not believe in the politics of personal matters of individuals.

Under Article 63 of the Constitution, a reference seeking disqualification of a member of parliament can be filed with the Senate chairman or speaker of the National Assembly, as the case may be. If they don’t reject the reference, they are bound to refer the matter to the Election Commission within 30 days. The ECP has 90 days to decide on the matter.

An interesting situation will develop if a reference against Mr Khan is sent to Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq who had won the election against him. Mr Khan alleges that the constituency is among those where the PML-N had resorted to rigging.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2014