LAHORE: A PTI-backed independent candidate has filed a petition in the Lahore High Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to appoint additional election tribunals in Punjab.

Petitioner Rao Omar Hashim Khan, who contested general election from NA-139, Pakpattan, also accused the ECP of turning his victory into a defeat by manipulating the results.

He filed the petition through Advocate Sameer Khosa.

He said the ECP, after the general elections, requested the chief justices of the respective provincial high courts and the Islamabad High Court to provide names of the judges to be appointed as election tribunals to hear the disputes about polls.

Pursuant to such requests, and upon nominations by the respective high courts, the ECP notified five election tribunals each for Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three for Balochistan, and one for Islamabad.

However, with regard to Punjab, the ECP made a request to the LHC chief justice to nominate nine judges for appointment as election tribunals, the petitioner said. He said initially, two of the judges nominated by the LHC were appointed as the tribunals.

He claimed the ECP not only failed to appoint the additional election tribunals as nominated by the LHC CJ, but also unlawfully asked the chief justice to provide a panel of the sitting judges for appointment as the tribunals.

The petitioner stated that his election petition is yet to be fixed for hearing before an election tribunal even after more than a month to its filing.

He argued that the ECP failed to provide any coherent justification or reason for its selective appointment of additional tribunals. He said the lack of transparency raises serious questions about the conduct of the commission.

He asked the court to order the ECP to appoint additional election tribunals in the Punjab province in light of the recommendations of the LHC for expeditious disposal of the petitions regarding the general election of 2024.

Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza will hear the petition on Monday (tomorrow).

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2024