A Landmark Judgment.

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the suspension of a sentence awarded to an election candidate has no impact on his or her disqualification to contest the poll. The 8-page verdict penned by the three-member bench of the SC is a landmark judgment which could be consequential for lawmakers across the country.

The case revolved around Nasir Mehmood, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader from Gujrat, and another PML-N candidate who had both been given sentences by the trial court. These sentences were suspended by the high court on an appeal filed by them against the trial court's judgement. The candidates were arguing that the suspension of those sentences should allow them to contest the elections of public office that they wanted, which were the offices of the chairman and vice-chairman of Union Council 3, Gujrat Municipal Corporation, while the final verdict in the cases were being heard.

The Supreme Court has unequivocally rejected that premise. Justice Ijazul Ahsan who penned the judgment wrote, 'The suspension of sentence would have no consequence on the conviction of the appellants for the purposes of being qualified to contest either the local bodies elections or the elections for the Legislative Assemblies.' Rejecting the argument by the appellants that they had not served time in jail before their sentences were suspended, thus their convictions should...