ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday reserved the verdict on a petition seeking to declare Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Ishaq Dar’s Senate seat as ‘vacant’ over his failure to take the oath as Senator since March 2018.

Under an ordinance, promulgated by the president, the seat of a lawmaker would be deemed to have become vacant if the member failed to take oath within 60 days, an ECP member earlier observed at the hearing.

While appearing before the commission, the counsel for Mr Dar, Salman Aslam Butt, argued the ordinance had already lapsed. He argued that his victory notification was issued on March 9, 2018, but the Supreme Court suspended it on May 8, 2018.

The lawyer argued that the presidential ordinance did not apply in Mr Dar’s case, as he could not take the oath during a period when the victory notification was suspended.

Notification of PML-N leader’s Senate election restored in February after four years

He was elected to the upper house of the parliament on a technocrat seat in the elections held on March 3, which was notified by the ECP on March 9, 2018 under Section 124 of the Elections Act, 2017.

Just a day before his election, a legal challenge to his nomination for the Senate seat was dismissed by a division bench of the Lahore High Court(LHC). However, the decision was challenged before the Supreme Court and on May 8, it suspended the notification.

Three years later, an ordinance was promulgated, as the then government attempted to get Shaukat Tarin elected as senator on Mr Dar’s seat. Under the ordinance, which was promulgated on Sept 2, 2021 and lapsed in January 2022, if a member willfully fails to take oath, his seat will be deemed to be vacant.

Mr Dar, in a letter to the ECP on Sept 29, 2021, stated he had not taken the oath as a Senate member, nor was he in a position to take it due to the Supreme Court order that suspended the notification of his election on May 8, 2018 and the ECP’s subsequent order of June 29, 2018 in this regard.

However, the apex court through its order on Dec 21, 2021 dismissed the civil appeal leading to the suspension of the notification. Subsequently, the ECP on Jan 10 also restored the notification dated March 9, 2018 through which Mr Dar was declared returned candidate to the Senate.

Finally, Mr Dar in February wrote to the Senate chairman asking him to virtually administer the oath in the wake of restoration of his election notification, but his request was turned down.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2022