LAHORE, June 25: Former law minister S.M. Zafar is of the opinion that Mian Shahbaz Sharif had taken oath as chief minister in a hurry and in violation of the provisions of Article 223 of the Constitution.
“But as there is no penalty mentioned in the constitution for this violation, this will remain an issue of interpretation”, he said in a statement here on Wednesday.
Zafar, who is also a PML-Q Senator, said there seemed to be some ambiguity in the constitution on the subject which, he hoped, would be taken care of in the constitutional package.
He differed with the opinion expressed by various people that under Article 223(4) of the constitution, Mian Shahbaz Sharif was no longer the Punjab chief minister or that the seat PP-48 (Bhakkar) on the basis of which he had been elected a member of the provincial legislature stood vacated after the notification of his unopposed election on PP-10 (Rawalpindi).
The former law minister said Article 223 catered for two different situations. Its clause 2 deals with a candidate who fights election for more than one seat. Clause 4 of the article is about an already elected member who decides to contest election from another seat.
“In the latter situation when a member of any assembly contests election and gets elected, he loses first seat automatically. But this clause doesn’t apply to Mian Shahbaz Sharif because he was candidate for two constituencies: PP-48 (Bhakkar) and PP-10 (Rawalpindi). When he was contesting the election, he was not a member of the assembly”.
S.M. Zafar said: “No doubt the result of the Rawalpindi seat was announced subsequent to his election on the Bhakkar seat, but this doesn’t mean the vacation of the latter seat.
“His case will be covered by Clause 2 and he has a choice to resign from his Rawalpindi seat to continue with his Bhakkar slot. And he has 30 days to do so”.
Senator Zafar said: “But the problem arises on account of another clause of Article 223 which says that a candidate who is contesting on more than one seat should not take oath before he has resigned from all other seats except one”.
He said Shahbaz Sharif had taken the oath as an MPA from Bhakkar seat before his victory from the Rawalpindi seat was notified. “To this extent, it appears that he took oath in a hurry and in violation of the provisions of Article 223. But as there is no penalty mentioned in the constitution for this violation, this will remain an issue of interpretation”.