ISLAMABAD, Dec 24: The federal government on Tuesday forcefully defended the law which barred the defeated politicians from contesting the Senate elections, laying to rest the speculation that the government was reconsidering the law and might modify it to ensure unity in the PML-Q ranks.

The federal government on Tuesday submitted its response to the Supreme Court in reply to the notices issued by the apex court on petitions filed by the Millat Party through Javed Jabbar and Ayub Khattak, a PML-Q leader from the NWFP.

It was being reported that due to fissures in the PML-Q ranks, the government was considering modifying the law to allow Mian Azhar and some others to contest the Senate elections.

A five-judge bench had taken up the matter and issued notices to the attorney general and advocate general. The case is now likely to be taken up in January, when the Supreme Court would reopen after winter vacations.

The federal government, in its reply, stated that the contention that the Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf had ceased his right to legislate after October 12, 2002, was not correct, and that he was competent to legislate till the time power was transferred to the elected representatives.

The government said till the time power was transferred to the elected members, the Chief Executive was fully empowered to promulgate a law to achieve his declared objectives.

The government said there was no bar on the Chief Executive promulgating the order after the elections to the National Assembly and provincial assemblies. “It is a bona fide exercise.”

The government said the Constitution provided that further qualifications and disqualifications could be prescribed by a law enacted by the law-making authority.