ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the suspension of asentence awarded to an election candidate has no impact on his/herdisqualification to contest the elections.
A three-judge SC bench that heard the appeal in October last year ruledtoday that the suspension of a sentence would not make an electioncandidate eligible to contest the polls.
The court issued its verdict on an appeal filed by PML-N’s Gujrat leaderNasir Mehmood and another candidate, who had challenged a 2015 Lahore HighCourt order that ruled them ineligible to contest the elections for thechairman and vice-chairman of Union Council 3, Gujrat Municipal Corporation.
The judgment authored by Justice Ijaz-Ul-Ahsan stated that the suspensionof sentence would have no consequence on the conviction of the appellantsfor the purposes of being qualified to contest either the local bodieselections or the elections for the Legislative Assemblies.
Interpreting clauses of Article 63 of the Constitution and the Punjab LocalGovernment Act, 2013, the apex court clarified that the portion of sentenceactually served by a candidate is of no relevance and theirdisqualification is attracted on the basis of conviction and sentenceawarded as opposed to served.The appeal was subsequently dismissed.