ISLAMABAD: The Election Com­m­ission will take up for hearing on March 11 a petition seeking disqualification of Senator-elect and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

The petition was filed in the ECP by PTI leaders Kanwal Shauzab and Farrukh Habib after a video clip showing Ali Haider Gilani, the son of Yousuf Raza Gilani, telling some unidentified Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers about techniques of wasting their votes circulated on the social media.

The video surfaced a day before the Senate polls in which PDM candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani defeated PTI candidate Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.

Hours after the video clip’s posting on the official Twitter account of the ruling PTI and its going viral on the mainstream and social media, Ali Haider Gilani held a news conference with Pakistan Peoples Party information secretary Shazia Marri and confirmed the authenticity of the video clip, saying he had done nothing wrong and his conscience was clear.

In a related development, PTI leader Faisal Javed, while reacting to the leaked video, said that Articles 156, 167 and 168 of the Election Act, 2017, had been violated in the election process.

In his tweet, Mr Javed said that illegal and corrupt practices in the election process were highly prohibited. Giving bribes to a candidate fell under the category of corrupt practice, he said.

He further wrote that Maryam Nawaz and Ali Haider Gilani had committed serious violations of the Election Act, 2017.

The ECP will also hear the same day a petition filed by PPP Secretary General Nayyar Hussain Bukhari accusing the PTI of corrupt practices and giving money to women lawmakers.

The ECP on March 9 will hear a petition filed by PML-N Senator Javed Abbasi about a leaked video of KP members.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2021