ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday finally notified Raheela Magsi of the PML-N as the returned candidate on a reserved seat for women from Islamabad. However, her legal war still continues.

Among the 48 senators-elect, she was the only legislator who could not be notified before the election of the Senate chairman and deputy chairman. Ms Magsi was, however, administered the oath as a senator shortly after her notification was issued by the ECP in pursuance of a Supreme Court judgment.

Take a look: Magsi back in race for Senate seat

She faced the first legal battle when her nomination papers were challenged by her opponent, Nargis Faiz Malik of the PPP, mainly on the basis of her vote’s transfer from Tando Allah Yar Khan to Islamabad after the announcement of the election schedule.

The returning officer, however, accepted the nomination papers saying that the ECP had already decided that section 20 of the Electoral Rolls Act that bared the transfer of vote after the announcement of the election schedule did not apply on the Senate elections.

The same position was reiterated by the ECP in a press statement which interestingly is still on its website. But during the process of appeals against the acceptance or rejection of the nomination papers, the commission went against its declared position and rejected Ms Magsi’s nomination papers.

Sources told Dawn that the process for the transfer of Ms Magsi’s vote and that of Samina Abid of the PTI from Shikarpur to Peshawar started the same day. Their applications were routed through the ECP which referred them to the election wing which was of the view that there was no legal bar on the vote transfer for the Senate candidates.

However, taking up the application of Nargis Faiz Malik against the acceptance of Ms Magsi’s papers, the commission took a u-turn and asked Ms Magsi, before rejecting her papers, as to why her name had been deleted as a voter in Tando Allah Yar on February 16.

Ms Magsi challenged the decision before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which through an interim order, allowed her to contest the polls but restrained the ECP from issuing a notification about her victory.

Taking up a civil petition, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the ECP to provisionally notify Ms Magsi as the winner. The apex court also asked the IHC to decide the case pending before it within 15 days.

When contacted, Ms Magsi said she had been thrown out of the electoral race by the ECP for no reason. She said she had decided to continue the struggle for her just right till the end. She said the unnecessary legal hurdles had been created in her way but the provisional decision of the IHC to allow her to contest the elections and the apex court’s verdict directing the ECP to notify her had boosted her morale.

She said a press statement posted by the ECP on its website on February 23 stressed that the preamble of the Electoral Rolls Act 1974 clearly envisaged its scope which was limited to the preparation and revision of the electoral rolls for the national and provincial assemblies.

The ECP also recalled that even in the Senate elections held in 2009 and 2012, applications seeking the transfer of vote after issuance of the election schedule were entertained.

Published in Dawn March 13th, 2015

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