Non-Bailable Warrant For Imran

Pak: Non-Bailable Warrant For Imran, Fawad

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued non-bailable arrest warrants on Tuesday for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan and Ex-information Minister Fawad Chaudhry in a case pertaining to contempt of the electoral body and the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), reported Dawn.

The arrest order was passed by a four-member ECP bench headed by member Nisar Durrani.
Last year, the ECP had initiated contempt proceedings against the PTI chief, Asad Umar and Fawad for allegedly using “intemperate” language against the CEC and the electoral watchdog. They also asked them to appear in person or through their counsels before the commission to further explain their role, according to Dawn.

Although, the PTI leaders did not appear before the ECP and instead challenged the ECP’s notices and contempt proceedings in various high courts on the grounds that Section 10 of the Elections Act 2017 (statutory provision regarding the commission’s power to punish for contempt) was against the Constitution.

According to the Election Act 2017, Section 10 titled “Power to punish for contempt” states that the “election commission may exercise the same power as the high court to punish any person for contempt of court and the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003 (V of 2003), or any other law pertaining to contempt of court shall have effect accordingly…”

The PTI leaders had also sought from the high courts a declaratory relief from the charges.

In January, the Supreme Court allowed the ECP to continue proceedings against PTI Chief Imran Khan, Fawad and Umar. However, the Supreme Court held that since the objections to ECP authority were raised by the respondents in the pending proceedings under Section 10, the same was required to be considered and decided by ECP before passing a final order, Dawn reported.

Later on June 21, The ECP decided to frame charges against all three of them.

Despite getting summoned, Imran, Fawad and Umar did not appear during today’s hearing, reported Dawn.

While giving reasons, the assistant of Umar’s counsel told ECP that Umar had another case to attend and a medical appointment, and later requested an exemption from personal appearance, as per Dawn.

However, the EC accepted his request and asked the lawyer to submit a formal plea for this matter.

Likewise, the assistant counsel for Fawad said that his client was in Lahore while his counsel, Faisal Chaudhry, was at the Islamabad High Court.

Adding to this, the ECP issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Fawad and Imran and adjourned the hearing until July 25. (ANI)

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Bjp To Finalise Tickets For Gujarat Polls On Wednesday

The Bharatiya Janata Party will hold a meeting of its Central Election Committee (CEC) on Wednesday evening in a bid to finalise the first list of candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls.

This meeting will take place in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and BJP state president CR Patil and other members of the CEC and the state unit.
The meeting is scheduled at the party headquarters in Delhi.

“An initial round of the meeting has taken place at the state headquarters in Gandhinagar over three days during which a shortlist of candidates has already been prepared which will be brought for consideration and finalisation to the CEC,” a source told ANI.

“Ahead of the meeting of the CEC, the BJP Gujarat core group will also have a separate meeting with JP Nadda and Amit Shah,” another source told ANI.

Another source told ANI, “Since all the central and state leadership may be present during this meeting. It is also likely that a separate discussion will take place with the top brass on planning the campaigning for the upcoming polls especially with PM Narendra Modi having instructed them to target the highest poll numbers ever.”

Gujarat has been a BJP bastion for decades together. BJP is seeking its sixth term in office.

Before becoming the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat’s longest serving Chief Minister from 2001 to 2014.

On November 3, the election commission of India announced the election dates for Gujarat.

Polling will take place on two dates in two phases on December 1 and December 5 respectively.

In the first phase, polling will be held for 89 seats while the second phase will see voting for 93 seats. The term of the 182-member state Assembly ends on February 18, 2023.

The state of Gujarat has seen a traditional face-off between the ruling BJP and its traditional rival Congress party. However in the upcoming elections a new entrant, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), is being keenly watched in the poll fray. (ANI)

ICC Announces Changes In Playing Conditions, Using Saliva To Polish Ball Prohibited

Using saliva to polish the ball is now prohibited permanently by the International Cricket Council (ICC), announced the organisation while introducing new changes to its playing conditions on Tuesday.

“The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced several changes to its Playing Conditions after the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) ratified recommendations from the Sourav Ganguly-led Men’s Cricket Committee, which discussed MCC’s updated 3rd Edition of the 2017 Code of the Laws of Cricket and shared its conclusions with Women’s Cricket Committee, who endorsed the recommendations to CEC,” said a statement from the council.
The main changes to the Playing Conditions that come into effect on 1 October 2022 are:

-Batters returning when caught: When a batter is out Caught, the new batter will come in at the end the striker was, regardless of whether the batters crossed prior to the catch being taken.

-Use of saliva to polish the ball: This prohibition has been in place for over two years in international cricket as a COVID-19-related temporary measure and it is considered appropriate for the ban to be made permanent.

Incoming batter ready to face the ball: An incoming batter will now be required to be ready to take strike within two minutes in Tests and ODIs, while the current threshold of ninety seconds in T20Is remains unchanged.

Striker’s right to play the ball: This is restricted so as to require some part of their bat or person to remain within the pitch. Should they venture beyond that, the umpire will call and signal a Dead ball. Any ball which would force the batter to leave the pitch will also be called No ball.

Unfair movement by the fielding side: Any unfair and deliberate movement while the bowler is running in to bowl could now result in the umpire awarding five penalty runs to the batting side, in addition to a call of Dead ball.

Running out of the non-striker: The Playing Conditions follow the Laws in moving this method of effecting a Run out from the ‘Unfair Play’ section to the ‘Run out’ section.

Bowler throwing towards striker’s end before delivery: Previously, a bowler who saw the batter advancing down the wicket before entering their delivery stride, could throw the ball to attempt to run out the striker. This practice will now be called a Dead ball.

Also, the in-match penalty introduced in T20Is in January 2022, (whereby the failure of a fielding team to bowl their overs by the scheduled cessation time leads to an additional fielder having to be brought inside the fielding circle for the remaining overs of the innings), will now also be adopted in ODI matches after the completion of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League in 2023.

It was also decided that the playing conditions for all Men’s and Women’s ODI and T20I matches will be amended to allow hybrid pitches to be used, if agreed by both teams. Currently, hybrid pitches can only be used in Women’s T20I matches.

All Playing Conditions will be updated to reflect these changes.

Sourav Ganguly said: “It was an honour chairing my first meeting of the ICC Cricket Committee. I was pleased with the productive contribution of the Committee members which resulted in key recommendations being made. I thank all members for their valuable input and suggestions.”

The ICC Cricket Committee: Sourav Ganguly (Chair); Ramiz Raja (Observer); Mahela Jayawardena and Roger Harper (Past Players); Daniel Vettori and VVS Laxman (Representatives of Current Players); Gary Stead (Member Team Coach Representative); Jay Shah (Full Members’ Representative); Joel Wilson (Umpires’ Representative); Ranjan Madugalle (ICC Chief Referee); Jamie Cox (MCC Representative); Kyle Coetzer (Associate Representative); Shaun Pollock (Media Representative); Greg Barclay and Geoff Allardice (Ex Officio – ICC Chair and Chief Executive); Clive Hitchcock (Committee Secretary); David Kendix (Statistician). (ANI)