LAHORE:
Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Shujaat Ali Khan on Friday forwarded two petitions of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti, proposing to place them before a five-member bench hearing similar cases.
The party had filed two petitions – one challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification to disqualify Imran Khan and the other about directions given to PTI to hold intra-party elections.
The proceedings today were held in the judge’s chamber and PTI’s counsel Syed Ali Zafar was informed that these petitions are being sent to the chief justice.
Plea on disqualification
Imran, through his counsel, filed a petition in the provincial high court on December 7 challenging the ECP’s notification, issued on August 8, disqualifying him for five years and identifying him as a candidate from NA-45 Kurram-I for not declaring gifts taken from the Toshakhana in his statement of assets and liabilities.
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Imran contended that recent amendments to the Elections Act 2017 limit the ECP’s jurisdiction in deciding the qualification or disqualification of a member based on a court conviction.
In the petition, the PTI chief urged the court to set aside the ECP’s notification and further requested to suspend the operation of the notification until the final disposal of the petition.
Plea on intra-party elections
The second plea pertains to Imran and General Secretary Omar Ayub Khan challenging ECP’s notification issued on November 23 which directed the party to hold intra-party elections. The petition was also filed on December 7.
The petitioners requested the court to not only set aside ECP’s order but also declare valid the party elections the PTI earlier held on June 10, 2022.
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The court was also urged to suspend the operation of ECP’s order and restrain ECP from passing any further adverse order until the disposal of the petition.
The petition further states that there are hundreds of political parties registered with the ECP, yet it has never questioned them regarding conducting intra-party elections.
The ECP does not have any such jurisdiction under the law, it added. Moreover, it stated that the electoral body has picked only the case of PTI in a discriminatory and illegal manner and decided to review the intra-party polls of PTI, “almost as if it were a trial court”.
The impugned order is contrary to Articles 4, 9, 10A, 16, 17, 25, and 26 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, the petition added.