Pak election commission disqualifies Qureshi from contesting polls for five years
The Hindu
Pakistan's Election Commission disqualifies Shah Mahmood Qureshi from elections for leaking state secrets, days before general elections.
Pakistan's Election Commission has disqualified Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a close aide of jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan, from contesting elections for five years after the former Foreign Minister was sentenced to 10 years in prison for leaking state secrets.
The disqualification of Mr. Qureshi, 67, comes five days before the February 8 general elections, which Mr. Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party is contesting despite a State crackdown and without its famous election symbol, the bat.
The announcement comes days after a special court, established under the Official Secrets Act, awarded Qureshi 10 years imprisonment in the high-profile cypher case along with Mr. Khan. Citing the Special Court's judgement dated January 30, 2024, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that any convicted individual, in accordance with the Constitution, cannot participate in elections, The Express Tribune reported.
“As a consequence, Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi has become disqualified under Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan read with Section 232 of the Elections Act, 2017. Therefore, Mr. Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi is disqualified to contest General Elections-2024 and any subsequent elections for a period of five years," the ECP said on February 3.
The cipher case pertains to a piece of paper, purported to be a diplomatic cable -- the cipher -- that Mr. Khan had waved at a public rally on March 27, 2022, and naming the US, had claimed that it was ‘evidence’ of an “international conspiracy” to topple his Government.
The case was filed against Mr. Khan, 71, and Mr. Qureshi on August 15 last year by the country’s Federal Investigation Agency, which accused both of violating the secrecy laws while handling the cable sent by the Pakistan Embassy in Washington in March 2022.
Earlier, Mr. Khan has also been barred from politics for five years.
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