Earlier Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa on December 4 had admitted the petition for regular hearing and had issued notice to attorney general of Pakistan for January 18. The Judge had also referred the case to Chief Justice for constitution of a larger bench for disposal of the matter in accordance with the law.
Advocate Tariq Aziz Malik submitted in his petition that this restriction was imposed through chief executive order 19 of 2002. He said this constitutional right could not be taken away through an executive order. He said it was against the constitutional right of a person to take part in the election. He said that article 62 and 63 laid down the qualification for a person to be elected, as member of the parliament had not imposed any such restriction. He prayed to the court to declare the chief executive order 19, as null and void.