By NNN-Xinhua,
Islamabad : Pakistan’s Supreme Court decided to abolish a law which requires the National Assembly and Provincial Assembly members to be university graduates.
A seven-member bench comprising Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar gave the verdict on Monday after hearing the arguments in the petition challenging the condition for graduation to contest the elections.
The law “which lay down that a person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as member of Majlis-e-Shoora (National Assembly) or a Provincial Assembly unless he is at least a graduate possessing a bachelor degree in any discipline are declared to be void prospectively on account of being inconsistent with Articles 17 and 25 of the Constitution”, said a short order of the court.
The graduation clause was introduced by President Pervez Musharraf in 2002.
The Attorney General for Pakistan Malik Muhammad Qayyum said that the law is discriminatory and against the fundamental rights of the citizens.
“The country had 68.1 million voters, of whom only 2.6 million (3.2 percent) were graduates,” Pakistan’s Daily Times quoted Qayyum as saying last week.
Qayyum said that the graduation condition for contesting the election has deprived 97 percent of voters from their democratic right of contesting election. “It is against the spirit of democracy and political justice”.