Chaudhry Bilal Ijaz (Urdu/; born 8 October 1970) is a Pakistani politician who served as a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2002 to 2007. From 2019 to 2022, he served as chairman of the Punjab Zakat and Ushr Council under the government of the Punjab.
Born in Gujranwala, Bilal Ijaz was elected to the National Assembly after successfully contesting in the 2002 general election as a Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q) candidate from constituency NA-100 (Gujranwala-VI).
He campaigned in the general elections of 2008 and 2013 as a PML-Q and independent candidate respectively, but was unsuccessful. In late 2014, Ijaz joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). He contested in the 2018 election from his constituency NA-84 but was defeated by Azhar Qayyum Nahra of the PML-N.
In 2019, he was appointed by the PTI-led Punjab government as chair of the provincial Zakat and Ushr Council, an office he held until 2022.
Early life and education
Bilal Ijaz was born on 8 October 1970 in Gujranwala, Punjab. He hails from the tehsil of Nowshera Virkan in Gujranwala District and belongs to the Rajput community. He graduated from the Forman Christian College in Lahore in 1997 and is an agriculturist by profession.
Ijaz's father, Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad, was also a politician who had been elected as an MNA first from constituency NA-103 (Sheikhupura) in 1985 and then thrice from his home constituency of NA-79 (Gujranwala-cum-Hafizabad) in 1988, 1993 and 1997.
His brother-in-law, Chaudhry Shamshad Ahmad Khan, was a four-time MPA who twice served as a minister in the Punjab cabinet.
Political career
Ijaz entered politics following his father's death. His father was re-elected as an MNA of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) from NA-79 in the preceding 1997 general election, but died while in office. Consequently, his vacant seat was occupied by PML-N candidate Chaudhry Ahmed Raza in the by-election. In the 2002 general election, Ijaz contested for a National Assembly seat from his reconstituted local constituency, NA-100 (Gujranwala-VI; now part of NA-84), as a Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML-Q) candidate. He was elected after receiving 73,107 votes and defeating Hamid Nasir Chattha, a PML-J candidate, by a margin of approximately 25,000 votes. The PML-Q formed the federal government under the regime of Pervez Musharraf. During his tenure as MNA, Ijaz's areas of legislative interest included education and defence. He was a member of the National Assembly's standing committees on Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs; Housing and Works; Minorities; and Planning and Development. In addition, Ijaz also served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Media Development, reporting to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
In the 2008 general election, Ijaz once again contested as a PML-Q candidate from NA-100. He received 53,285 votes and lost by a narrow margin to Mudassar Qayyum Nahra, an independent candidate who later joined the PML-N. Ijaz left his party after the poll and began to tilt towards the PML-N. In 2010, Mudassar Qayyum Nahra's membership was suspended and his seat in NA-100 fell vacant after Ijaz filed a petition in an election tribunal of the Lahore High Court, seeking Nahra's disqualification over a fake degree case. In the petition, Ijaz invoked Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution and argued that Nahra was ineligible to hold public office. Ijaz did not contest in the by-election that followed; the seat was won by Chaudry Tussadiq Masud Khan, a PPP candidate who defeated Mudassar's brother and also the PML-N's designated candidate, Azhar Qayyum Nahra.