ISLAMABAD:
Aamer Farooq, Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court, issued a statement on Tuesday expressing his displeasure with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for altering the new electoral tribunals and preventing them from hearing poll petitions until further notice.
The petition filed by the PTI for a stay of the Election Act (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024 and the ECP’s new tribunal was being heard by the court.
Muhammad Ali Bokhari, Shoaib Shaheen, and Aamir Mughal were three PTI-backed candidates who had challenged the PML-N members’ victory in Islamabad’s constituencies following the general elections earlier this year by claiming that the polls were rigged.
The IHC suspended the PML-N MNAs’ triumph warnings while the supplications were being heard by the political decision court.
The PML-N MNAs, including Anjum Aqeel Khan and Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, had expressed a lack of confidence in the election tribunal headed by Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri. Read IHC bars election tribunals hearing
An ECP bench granted the PML-N lawmakers’ requests to transfer their cases to other tribunals in its verdict.
On Tuesday, the IHC CJ communicated his outrage regarding the ECP’s turn.
What prompted the immediacy of issuing an ordinance to amend the Election Act? The judge brought up the issue.
The IHC Chief Justice noted that Justice Jahangiri was the target of abusive language.
He went on to say that the IHC judge had been accused of favoritism for personal gain, nepotism, and bias. On the off chance that these allegations end up being incorrectly, does the individual from the gathering know the results? He will not be allowed to compete for five years.
Justice Farooq asked the ECP director of law, who was the one with legal knowledge, how the electoral body could issue such an order in his presence.
The law director of the ECP responded that the electoral body had issued the order and that he could provide the court with some legal assistance.
The IHC CJ interrogated the ECP regarding the grounds that drove it to change the councils. He was informed that the previous tribunals did not adhere to the rules.
By transferring tribunals, the ECP was establishing a new precedent, the judge noted.
Justice Farooq added that the ECP lacked suo motu authority.
“The ECP ought to have received an application for this to occur.”
The IHC instructed PML-N’s Aqeel to personally appear before the court on the next hearing date.
It additionally requested the principal legal officer for Pakistan to show up under the steady gaze of the court too.
It also told the ECP to show up at the next hearing with better legal representation.
The case was put on hold by the court until June 24.
