LAHORE: Justice Jawad Hassan of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday proposed to the chief justice that a larger bench should decide a petition filed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan against the proceedings of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to debar him from heading his party.

The ECP started the proceedings against Mr Khan after disqualifying him from his Mianwali seat of the National Assembly in October in the Toshakhana case.

At the previous hearing last week, Justice Hassan restrained the ECP from removing Mr Khan as the PTI chairman in pursuance of the Toshakhana case verdict.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Additional Attorney General Nasar Ahmad said the petitioner concealed the facts about the pendency of his petition on the same issue before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), wherein notices were issued and interim relief was also granted to him.

Previous order in party office case not received, PTI chief counsel tells ECP

However, Mr Khan’s counsel, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, pointed out that the fact about the proceedings before the IHC was mentioned in the petition filed in the LHC.

Justice Hassan observed that since important articles of the Constitution and provisions of the Election Act 2017 required interpretation, he deemed it fit to refer the matter to the LHC chief justice for forming a larger bench.

The judge also observed that the stay granted to Mr Khan would continue until further proceedings by a larger bench.

Earlier, Barrister Zafar argued that his client, Mr Khan, was aggrieved by the assumption of jurisdiction by the ECP through the issuance of the impugned order and the notice. He sought the interpretation of Articles 218(3) and 219, read with Articles 4 and 5 of the Constitution and Sections 8(c) and 9 of the Election Act in the light of Article 62(f) of the Constitution.

He pointed out that a reference against Mr Khan was submitted before the National Assembly speaker, who sent it to the ECP to decide the matter.

The counsel maintained that the pivotal point involved in this case was whether the ECP could pass any declaration which was not mentioned under Article 218(3).

Party chairmanship

Meanwhile, the ECP on Wednesday adjourned till Jan 25 the hearing of a case to strip Mr Khan of his party’s chairmanship.

Mr Khan’s counsel told a five-member ECP bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, that they had not received the order of the last hearing thus far.

He also pointed out that the ECP’s notice served on his client had also been challenged in the Lahore High Court.

To this, one ECP member told the counsel to have faith in the commission and not hasten to approach the court, saying the decision in the case might be different from the one they were anticipating.

On Friday, the ECP issued a notice to Mr Khan to explain on Jan 11 his position in person or through a lawyer on holding the top post of his party despite being disqualified by the commission.

Iftikhar A. Khan in Islamabad also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2023