ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday challenged before the Supreme Court the Dec 27 Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) suspension of substitution of the returning officer (RO) for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s constituency PK-91, Kohat-II.
Moved by senior counsel Afnan Karim Kundi on behalf of the ECP, the appeal also requested the top court to urgently fix the matter on Friday (today) since the election schedule was underway which was time bound with the scrutiny of nomination papers by the ROs be concluded by Dec 30.
The controversy at hand relates to the substitution of RO for the KP Assembly constituency PK-91, Kohat-II.
Earlier, Dawood Shah, a respondent, had assailed before the PHC, ECP’s Dec 25 notification of substituting RO for the constituency. The PHC, while issuing a notice to the commission, had suspended the notification.
Plea for removal of caretaker minister Fawad Hasan Fawad rejected
The ECP petition argued that the high court order amounts to interfering with the constitutional and statutory public duties of the commission with regard to appointment of ROs under Article 218(3), read with Section 51 of the Elections Act, 2017.
As such, no interim relief could be granted by way of suspension of ECP’s Dec 25 notification, the petition argued, adding that the high court order was liable to be set aside as it amounts to derailing the election process having been passed right in the middle of the scrutiny of nomination papers by the RO, which was a time-bound critical stage of the election programme.
The petition explained that the earlier appointed RO, whose substitution by the existing RO has been suspended by the high court, was not available having expressed his inability to act on medical grounds.
ECP rejects removal plea
In a separate development, the Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday rejected a petition seeking removal of caretaker federal Minister for Privatisation and Inter-Provincial Coordination Fawad Hasan Fawad from the cabinet.
Holding that Mr Fawad being the privatisation minister cannot influence the electoral process, the commission declared he will continue to hold the position.
Advocate Azizuddin Kakakhel in a petition filed in October had sought the removal of ‘biased’ members of the caretaker federal cabinet to ensure the conduct of free and fair general elections.
The ECP had asserted itself to get the caretaker prime minister’s adviser Ahad Cheema, one of the respondents in the petition, removed.
In its short order issued last week, the ECP had said the petitioner’s request for Mr Cheema to be removed was “reasonable and is accepted”. The ECP had directed that Mr Cheema be removed from his position and ordered the Cabinet Division secretary to immediately issue a notification in this regard.
While pronouncing its reserved verdict on Thursday about Mr Fawad, the ECP said the arguments of the petitioner were not supported by any evidence and he did not convince the bench regarding interference of the respondent in the ongoing election process.
“The matter cannot be decided in favour of the petitioner on the basis of apprehensions,” it said.
“Civil servants are liable to serve in any field assigned to them during their service and this fact does not prove that the civil servants have political affiliations.
“We are clear in our minds that the contentions of the petitioner qua biasness of Mr Fawad Hassan Fawad having served at key positions in previous governments and his political affiliation, are based on mere allegations which lack substantial evidence,” the ECP order said.
“Therefore, we are not convinced with the contentions of the petitioner and are inclined to reject the same,” it added.
Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2023
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