The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Friday acquitted PPP senior leader and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in a video scandal, dismissing PTI’s petition filed for his disqualification.
The commission said no evidence was found against Gilani. The commission however directed the district election commissioner Islamabad to take action against Ali Haider Gilani, MNA Faheem Khan and Jamil Ahmad Khan for their involvement in corrupt practices. The PTI had filed a petition seeking disqualification of PPP Senator-elect Yousaf Raza Gilani last year, asking the electoral body to stop the notification confirming Gilani’s victory on a general seat from Islamabad in the Senate elections.
The petition was filed by PTI’s Farrukh Habib, Maleeka Bokhari and Kanwal Shauzab, says a news report. The lawmakers had filed it based on a controversial audio clip of Sindh minister Nasir Hussain Shah purportedly bargaining with four PTI lawmakers for their votes in the Senate elections and a video of Ali Haider Gilani in which he was allegedly explaining some PTI MNAs techniques to waste their votes.
The PPP senator, in a shocking development, defeated the PTI candidate Hafeez Sheikh, triggering a debate in political circles about the cracks in the then ruling coalition which had a majority in the National Assembly. Later, the then prime minister Imran Khan also took a vote of confidence from the assembly to show that he still enjoys the support of the majority. During the hearing, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja said the facts of the case were not presented properly.
He noted that 20 hearings had been conducted and applications for adjournment were filed 12 times.
Ali admitted to his conversation with the PTI lawmakers, but said he was just responding to their question as to what to do if the votes were made traceable by a barcode. He, however, said he had made no attempt to “buy” votes. Yousaf defended his son, saying they were seeking votes from all MNAs as they formed the electoral college for the Senate elections. He said he had also contacted then-prime minister Imran Khan in this connection.
