LAHORE: PTI Chairman Imran Khan has approached the Lahore High Court against a no­t­ice of the Election Commi­ssion of Pakistan (ECP) on proceedings to debar him from hea­ding the party following his disqualification from the National Assembly NA-95 (Mianwali-1) constituency for allegedly filing incorrect statement of assets.

The hearing of the petition has been fixed before Justice Jawad Hassan for Thursday (today).

The petition, filed through Sen­ator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, pleads that the cognisance and exercise of jurisdiction by the ECP on the basis of alleged incorrect statement of assets and subsequent disqualification was unlawful and contrary to the Constitution.

While the ECP issued the imp­ugned notice to the petitioner on Dec 7, 2022, the petition argues that the entire scheme of his qualification and disqualification had been ‘misconstrued’ and the precedent set by the SC in the disqualification of former PM Nawaz Sharif has been ‘misapplied’ to the detriment of Imran Khan.

No declaration of disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution has been passed by any court of law against Mr Khan, the petition states.

“In fact the impugned findings of ECP are to the detriment of the entire scheme of parliamentary democracy which is not warranted in law and are liable to be set aside by the court,” it adds.

It argues that the ECP cannot issue the impugned notice to the petitioner since it never made a declaration against him under Article 62(1)(f).

It requests the LHC to declare the impugned notice illegal and hold that the ECP findings against the petitioner are without lawful authority.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2023