PESHAWAR: A lawyer on Monday moved the Peshawar High Court against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council over the forthcoming bar association elections in the province and requested the court to declare the electoral exercise to be hazardous in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Petitioner Khalid Hamid, who is a candidate for the post of the general secretary, Peshawar Bar Association (PBA), insisted that the holding of bar elections on June 13 by the KP Bar Council was a suicide mission, which would affect campaigners and voters alike.

He said the elections were scheduled to be held in March but were postponed in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The petitioner said on June 2, the KP Bar Council announced that it would hold the district bar elections throughout the province on June 13 and the high court bar association’s on July 4.

Insists electoral exercise amid pandemic unsafe

He said the council while making the announcement completely ignored the imposition of health emergency by the government in the province as well as the invoking of Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ban social, public and political gatherings.

The petitioner, whose lawyer is Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel, said the elections won’t take place in accordance with democratic norms due to the likely low turnout due to pandemic.

He requested the court to declare that the bar polls go against the directives of the government and endanger the life of lawyers and people.

The petitioner sought orders to declare those elections against the lawyers’ right to franchise and to elect representatives of choice.

He prayed the court to stop the KPBC, Peshawar Bar Association and Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) from holding polls in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic and making further poll announcement until the lifting of the health emergency.

The respondents in the petition are the KPBC through its secretary, Pakistan Bar Council through its secretary, PBA and PHCBA through their respective general secretaries, election commissioners of PBA and PHCBA, Peshawar deputy commissioner and PHC registrar.

The petitioner contended that some lawyers were bound to follow the directives of their respective political groups to cast vote even if they’re infected by the virus or had quarantined themselves and thus, risking their and others’ life.

He said in the bar association elections, lawyers were required to pay visits to all registered voters to win their favour, while the same was done on the eve of the elections.

The petitioner added that such meetings and greetings would render the whole community vulnerable to the virus.

He said the lockdown had controlled the infection to some extent but when it was relaxed by the government, the Covid-19 cases crossed the 100,000 mark, which showed the reported cases only.

The petitioner said the people had not been following the standard operating procedures issued by the government to stem the spread of the virus.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2020