ISLAMABAD: The El­­e­­­ction Commission of Pak­­istan (ECP) on Tues­day summoned PTI Chair­man Imran Khan to app­ear before it in person on May 23 in a case pertaining to contempt of the commission and its head.

A four-member bench, headed by ECP member from Sindh, Nisar Durrani, heard the case.

The ECP member from Balochistan during the con­tempt proceedings said Mr Khan had been given last chance at the previo­us hearing to appear before the commission but he did not appear even afterwards. He recalled that summons had been issued to him. He asked why they should not issue a bailable arrest warrant for the party chairman after his failure to appear before the commission in contempt proceedings.

During the proceedings against Mr Khan and senior PTI leaders Fawad Cha­u­­­dhry and Asad Umar, the assistant cou­nsel told the ECP member that the ex-premier had to appear before the Lahore High Court (LHC) that later in the day granted him bail in May 9 violence case.

Summon issued again after ex-premier fails to avail himself of ‘last chance’

Lawyer Anwar Man­s­o­­or Khan, counsel for Asad Umar, asked the ECP to let the hearing at the Sin­dh High Court complete. “The objections raised before the ECP are the same as those being heard by the court,” he argued.

When the assistant counsel said Mr Khan’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhary would appear and present arguments, the ECP member from Khyber Pakht­u­nkhwa told him to contact Mr Chaudhary and ask when he would come. ECP member from Sindh Nisar Durrani said the counsel should at least give arguments on the objections of Mr Umar as the high court had not barred contempt proceedings.

Mirza Asif Abbas, the lawyer representing ECP before the LHC, said the court had ordered the submission of the case sheet by May 23.

Meanwhile, the ECP at a meeting, with Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja in the chair, Quetta was the only district where the local government election could not be conducted due to non-determination of towns by the government.

In this regard, the ECP was also up­­dated about the Balochistan High Court order issued to the provincial local government secretary on Oct 23, 2022 to issue a notification to form towns in Quetta district under the local government law.

However, the necessary documents and the relevant notification required for delimitation were not provided to the ECP even after five months, due to which the delimitation process and conduct of elections had not been made possible till date.

The ECP has completed the delimitation of Quetta twice, but apparently due to lack of interest of the provincial government, it was not possible to conduct the election. Taking notice of the matter, the ECP had summoned chief secretary on May 24 so that the matter could be heard, and delimitation and election could be ensured.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2023