ISLAMABAD: The PML-N has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to disqualify its member of the Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Wajeehuz Zaman for violating party discipline.

A senior ECP official told Dawn that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in his capacity as president of PML-N, has written a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner seeking disqualification of its defiant lawmaker.

The official, however, said that the ECP’s position on the issue was very clear as under the law it could not disqualify a lawmaker on a complaint directly made to it by the party.

He said a reference is supposed to be routed through the speaker of the provincial assembly. If the speaker forwards the reference to the commission, it will issue notices to both the parties and hear them before making a final decision.

The official observed that the article of the Constitution dealing with defection would not be applicable in the case of Wajeehuz Zaman as he had not committed anything barred by the law.

He explained that under Article 63-A of the Constitution, a member of a parliamentary party can be disqualified only when he votes or abstains from voting in the house contrary to any direction issued by the parliamentary party he belongs to, but the scope was limited to voting during election of prime minister or chief minister, vote of confidence or no-trust motion and a money bill or a constitution amendment bill.

He said even in such a case, he was required to be declared in writing by the party head to have defected from the party and forward a copy of declaration to the speaker of the respective assembly who under the law is bound to refer it to the Chief Election Commissioner within two days, failing which it would be deemed to have been referred to it.

On receipt of the declaration, the Chief Election Commissioner lays the declaration before the commission, which is to confirm the decision or otherwise within 30 days. If the ECP confirms the declaration, the person concerned ceases to be member of the house. Any party aggrieved by the decision of the commission may prefer an appeal with the Supreme Court, which is required to decide the matter within 90 days.

The ruling PML-N had served a show cause notice on Wajeehuz Zaman, for his blatant defiance of the party line over the recently held Senate elections, days before the polls took place, making visible the cracks within the party’s KP chapter.

Wajeehuz Zaman, the 49-year-old MPA, who was elected from Mansehra on PML-N ticket in 2013 general elections, in an interview had declared that he won’t vote for the PML-N candidates in the Senate elections in KP, which according to the show cause notice, amounted to gross violation of party discipline and parliamentary and democratic norms.

“From the published statement it was revealed that Zaman had committed serious violation of the party discipline which amounted to defection from the party and violation of party’s constitution as well as Constitution of Pakistan and relevant laws,” an announcement made by the party said.

Mr Zaman is the son of former senator Fauzia Fakharuz Zaman, who was elected as senator during then military ruler retired General Pervez Musharraf’s days in power.

Another allegation against Wajeehuz Zaman was that he proposed and seconded non-party candidates, including his mother, for the Senate polls.

Published in Dawn March 15th , 2015

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