ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday restored Rawalpindi Mayor Sardar Naseem by suspending the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The ECP on April 26 disqualified the mayor belonging to the ruling PML-N and 17 members of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) elected on reserved seats for allegedly violating the election laws.

The commission, which included Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Raza, Altaf Qureshi, Ghaffar Soomro, Shakil Baloch and Irshad Qaiser, announced its decision on two separate petitions.

The petitioners alleged that Mr Naseem used his influence to rig the reserved seat elections before he was elected as the mayor.

When the IHC single-member bench of Justice Aamir Farooq took up the matter on Friday, Sardar Nasim’s counsel Sardar Umar Aslam pointed out that the ECP lacked jurisdiction to entertain the petitions against the qualification of the mayor after he assumed the office.

He said the relevant forum to file such petitions against the mayor was the election tribunal, not the ECP. The counsel requested the court to set aside the ECP order.

The court, however, suspended the ECP order till the adjudication of the petition filed by the mayor. With the suspension of the order, the 17 members of the RMC also restored on their seats. Justice Farooq also issued notices to the complainants against Mr Naseem as well as the ECP and sought their reply. Further hearing of the case was adjourned till the second week of May.

The ECP had recalled its notification issued on December 28, 2016, and that of the 17 members dated November 30, 2016.

After the ECP verdict, 40 union council chairmen gathered at the RMC to pass a resolution expressing confidence in the mayor. They said the PML-N and the RMC members would stand by the mayor as he had not influenced the union council chairmen in the election on the reserved seats. They said the UC chairmen had voted for the candidates nominated by the PML-N.

The ruling party won 40 union councils in the 2015 local government elections while the PPP trailed behind with three seats, PTI two and the Awami Muslim League one.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2017