'Prez rules amended following Pak SC rulings'

Lahore, Sep 17: The Presidential Election Rules 1988 of Pakistan has been amended under the Supreme Court"s (SC) 2002 and 2005 decisions, Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad has said.

Article 63 of the Constitution did not bind the President after the SC decisions, Dilshad said.

All institutions under Articles 189 and 190 of the Constitution are bound to the decision of the SC, the Daily Times quoted him, as saying.

Commenting on the schedule of the presidential election, Dilshad said that it will be announced within two to three days.

The EC has amended the rules so that Article 63 of the Constitution no longer applies to the President.

Article 63 lays down various conditions under which a person can be disqualified from being a Member of Parliament.

With the amendment in clause (a), sub-rule (3) of rule 5 of the Presidential Election Rules 1988, the returning officer can no longer conduct an inquiry or reject any nomination paper if the candidate is subject to disqualification from being elected as, or from being, a MP as provided in Article 63.

Earlier, this clause allowed the returning officer to conduct such an inquiry or reject nomination papers of a candidate if that candidate was not qualified under the Constitution to be elected as President, or was subject to disqualification from being elected as a member of the National Assembly.

Now the words "or is subject to any disqualification from being elected as, and from being, a member of the National Assembly" have been omitted from this rule.

ANI
>