Imran may be disqualified, says ex-ECP official

The former secretary ECP, Kanwar Dilshad, said that if the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) finds PTI Chairman Imran Khan guilty in the Toshakhana reference, the commission may disqualify him.

The election commission will announce its verdict in the much-delayed Toshakhana disqualification reference against Imran Khan at 2pm today.

If the ECP finds Imran Khan guilty, it can disqualify him under Article 63, the former ECP official said, speaking to Geo News.

The Election Commission may also send a reference against Imran Khan to a sessions court, he said. The court may award Khan up to three years in prison after hearing the case, he added.

According to a notice issued today, the ECP ordered all the relevant parties or their counsels to appear before the commission at its secretariat, situated at Constitution Avenue, G-5/2, in Islamabad.

It should be noted that the ECP had reserved its verdict in the Toshakhana case on September 19 following months of hearings. After hearing the arguments, a five-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, reserved its ruling.

The Toshakhana case

In August 2022, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf sent a reference to the ECP under Articles 62A, 63A, and 223, seeking former prime minister Imran Khan’s disqualification in the light of the Toshakhana scam.

The disqualification reference was filed by Ali Gohar Khan, PMLN’s Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha, and five others.

The 28-page reference identified 52 gift items of Toshakhana received by the former prime minister Khan, violating the law and rules, taken away at nominal prices and most of the gifts were sold in the market, including some precious watches.

The assessed value of the gifts has been put at Rs 142,042,100. The gifts were received between August 2018 and December 2021.

According to PML-N MNA Ranjha, Khan concealed information about the gift of watches by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in his statement of assets submitted in 2018-2019.

This withholding of information is tantamount to lying which, according to Ranjha, is a crime under Section 137. He thus said that Khan was no more Sadiq and Ameen and should be slapped with disqualification for life from contesting the election under Article 62(1)(f), Article 2, Article 3 of the Constitution.

Article 62(1)(f) is the same legal instrument that disqualified former PM Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections and led to his removal from power, Ranjha said.