ISLAMABAD: Just a day after being disqualified from contesting the upcoming election in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) mayoral candidate Umar Amin Gandapur is back in the race after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended the decision of his ouster on Tuesday.

Mr Gandapur, who is also brother of Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur, was barred by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from taking part in the election, scheduled to be held on Feb 13, for repeated violations of the code of conduct.

On Monday, a three-member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja, had also restrained the federal minister from attending public meetings and addressing them until the culmination of the election process in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, warning him that strict action under the law would be taken against him in case of violation of the code of conduct.

The election for the city mayor slot was postponed in December 2021 after Awami National Party (ANP) candidate Omer Khitab Sherani had been assassinated in front of his house. Challenging the latest ECP decision of his disqualification, PTI candidate Gandapur filed a writ petition in the IHC, which took up the plea and heard arguments of his counsel Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar.

Barrister Zafar argued that the ECP disqualified a strong candidate of the ruling party despite the fact that the petitioner was duly abiding by the code of conduct and enabling provisions of the election laws while running his election campaign.

He argued that the ECP by stopping him from contesting the election violated his client’s rights under Section 234 of the Elections Act, 2017. He said Section 234 (Monitoring of election campaign) provided that the ECP would constitute a monitoring team in a region where elections were to be held. This team would monitor election campaigns of the contenders to see violation of any provision of Elections Act, rules or the code of conduct issued by the Commission.

According to the lawyer, in case a violation is noted, then the team is supposed to hold summary proceedings and, at best, can impose a fine upon a candidate. If the candidate repeats the same violation, then the team is required under the law to refer the matter to ECP for initiation of action against such candidate. However, Barrister Zafar asserted that the law did not empower the election monitoring team or any of its members to take any decision on its own or refer the matter to the ECP before holding of summary proceedings.

After hearing all arguments, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah suspended the ECP decision.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2022