SHANGLA: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday disqualified the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPA from PK-88 Shangla, Abdul Munim Khan, and asked him to return all the amount of salary he received as lawmaker.

The five-member commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan also ordered the registration of an FIR against the former MPA for giving a false undertaking at the time of the 2013 general elections.

The commission had reserved its order after the completion of arguments by both the parties on Apr 5 and pronounced it in Islamabad on Wednesday.

ECP director (public relations) Altaf Khan confirmed the decision.

The ECP gave the verdict by accepting a petition of rival candidate Sher Alam Khan, of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, who had claimed that Abdul Munim, the special assistant to the chief minister on tourism, was a schoolteacher and had tendered resignation on March 31, 2013, few days before the scrutiny of his nomination papers.

Barrister Gohar Ali, lawyer for the petitioner, said under Article 63 of the Constitution, a candidate was disqualified from contesting polls if he had remained in service of Pakistan and a period of two years had not lapsed since he ceased to be in such service.

He added that Abdul Munim was appointed primary schoolteacher in 1987 and he continued to draw salary for that position manually until 2006.

The lawyer said from 2007 onwards, his client continued to receive salary through a bank account.

He said through the same account, he received salary as MPA and that of the CM’s special assistant.

Barrister Gohar cited several judgments of the superior courts in support of his contention and said there were clear directives of the Supreme Court in such cases that the salary received by a disqualified member should be recovered from him, while a criminal case should also be registered against him.

During the 2013 general elections, Abdul Munim had defeated the petitioner as an independent candidate before joining Swabi-based political party, Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan, which merged itself with the PTI afterwards.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2017