LAHORE: Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday referred to a full court bench a petition of the Pak­istan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) challenging the powers of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to withdraw the party symbol.

When the matter came for hearing before the LHC, Justice Sheikh asked the PTI counsel how details about the intra-party elections. “Who selects in your intra-party elections? What is the procedure of the election schedule? Where do you control the election from?” he asked.

Uzair Bhandari, the counsel for the party, said the intra-party polls were held nationwide. He said all information was provided to the ECP before the intra-party elections had been conducted.

Asked about the territorial jurisdiction of the court to hear the plea, the lawyer replied that the ECP initiated the proceedings against the intra-party election in Islamabad. He said the party polls were conducted digitally due to the alleged suppression by the government.

Justice Shahid recuses himself from hearing challenge to ordinance related to election tribunal appointment

Justice Sheikh reminded the counsel to talk about territorial jurisdiction and legal matters only, instead of discussing political matters.

About the maintainability of the petition, Advocate Bhandari said since the ECP was a federal institution, therefore, the petition could be filed anywhere in the country. He argued that if the ECP took action against the PTI, its effects would be felt nationwide.

The judge noted that the ECP had not taken any action against the petitioner as only a notice had been issued so far.

Later, the court referred the request to a larger bench, observing that a similar matter was already before a larger bench. While forwarding the petition to the chief justice, Justice Sheikh requested him to fix its hearing before the larger bench.

The petition filed by PTI secretary general Omar Ayub Khan and other leaders argued that Section 215 of the Elections Act, 2017, which provided for eligibility of a party to obtain election symbols, was against the constitution.

Election tribunal case

On the other hand, Justice Shahid Karim of the LHC recused himself from hearing a petition that challenges the presidential ordinance allowing appointment of retired judges as election tribunals.

The judge noted he had already passed a decision in a similar matter pertaining to the appointment of the election tribunals. There­f­o­re, the judge referred the petition to the chief justice with a req­u­est to place it before any other bench.

Judicial Activism Panel (JAP) chairman Advocate Azhar Siddique filed the petition, alleging that the ordinance was unconstitutional when a law related to the election tribunal appointment already exists.

He said the government issued the ordinance only to frustrate an order of the high court.

Earlier on May 27, acting President Yousaf Raza Gillani passed “The Election (Amend­ment) Ordinance, 2024”, which provides appointment of retired judges as the election tribunals.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2024