The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified PTI chief Imran Khan for five years under Article 63(1)(p) for misdeclaration in the Toshakhana reference on Friday.<\/p>\n
Article 63 (1) (p) of the Constitution states that an individual is, \u201cfor the time being, disqualified from being elected or chosen as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament) or of a provincial assembly under any law for the time being in force\u201d.<\/p>\n
Key developments
\nImran Khan disqualified for five years for misdeclaration
\nDecision taken unanimously by a five-member bench
\nPTI leaders ask people to come out of their homes
\nFawad Chaudhry says it\u2019s a slap on the face of 220m people
\nA four-member bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja, announced the verdict at the ECP Secretariat in Islamabad.<\/p>\n
The decision was taken unanimously by the five-member bench. However, the member from Punjab was not present for today\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
According to the verdict, criminal proceedings will be initiated against Imran for misdeclaration.<\/p>\n
The reference was filed in August against Imran by the coalition government, for \u201cnot sharing details\u201d of Toshakhana gifts and proceeds from their alleged sale. Lawmakers from the Pakistan Democratic Movement \u2014 the ruling alliance \u2014 had submitted the reference to National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, who had subsequently forwarded it to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja for further action.<\/p>\n
Established in 1974, the Tosha\u00adkhana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries.<\/p>\n
According to Toshakhana rules, gifts\/presents and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules apply shall be reported to the Cabinet Division.<\/p>\n
However, the PTI, while in government, had been reluctant to disclose details of the gifts presented to Imran since he assumed office in 2018, maintaining that doing so would jeopardise international ties, even as the Pakistan Infor\u00admation Commission (PIC) ordered it to do so.<\/p>\n
But later, in a written reply submitted to the ECP on September 8, Imran had admitted to selling at least four presents he had received during his tenure as the prime minister.<\/p>\n
The former premier, in his reply, had maintained that the sale of the gifts that he had procured from the state treasury after paying Rs21.56 million fetched about Rs58m. One of the gifts included a graff wristwatch, a pair of cuff links, an expensive pen and a ring while the other three gifts included four Rolex watches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified PTI chief Imran Khan for five years under Article 63(1)(p) for misdeclaration in the Toshakhana reference on Friday. Article 63 (1) (p) of the Constitution states that an individual is, \u201cfor the time being, disqualified from being elected or chosen as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (parliament) or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2833,158,11165],"class_list":{"0":"post-290692","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-imran-khan","9":"tag-pti","10":"tag-toshakhana-reference"},"yoast_head":"\n