ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday set aside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decision regarding the formation of a fresh election tribunal led by a former judge and restored the tribunal headed by IHC Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, while deciding the petitions of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) runner-up candidates from Islamabad, also asked the ECP to review its decision of appointing a retired judge, Abdul Shakoor Paracha, as the presiding officer of the election tribunal constituted after the amendments to the Elections Act.

PTI’s Shoaib Shaheen, Mohammad Ali Bukhari and Amir Masood Mughal had challenged the appointment of Mr Paracha as the presiding officer and requested the court to set aside the amendments to the election law. The amendments to the Election Act through an ordinance promulgated in May this year allowed retired judges to preside over election tribunals without the consultation of the respective chief justice.

The plea also questioned the authority of the ECP to entertain the no-confidence application against Justice Jahangiri, who was heading the poll tribunal for the federal capital. The identical petitions challenged the vires of Section 151 of the Elections Act 2017 and the Ordinance V of 2024, namely the Elections (Amendment) Ordinance 2024, promulgated on May 27, 2024. The petitioners termed them ultra vires to Article 4, 9, 10-A, 25 and 175(3) of the Constitution.

Court rules in favour of PTI runners-up, asks ECP to review decision about tribunal

Advocate Syed Ashfaq Hussain Naqvi contended that as per Forms-45, his client Ali Bukhari had won the elections with a huge margin but due to alleged manipulation in the election results, the PTI candidate was defeated.

The petition stated that following the notification of the election tribunal for Islamabad, the candidate filed an election petition before the tribunal appointed under Section 140 of the Elections Act 2017.

It went on to state that on the first date of the hearing, the tribunal issued notices to the ECP, returned candidates, and the returning officers and directed them to file original Form-45 and Form-46 vide order May 2, 2024. On May 20, the ECP and some of the respondents appeared and the tribunal directed them to file their replies and original documents.

According to the petition, the returned candidates filed applications under Section 145(1) of the Elections Act 2017, for summary dismissal of the election petition on the ground that the same was time-barred. The tribunal after hearing preliminary arguments issued notices to the petitioners with a direction to file a reply by giving an advance copy to the other side, and adjourned the case.

Against the backdrop of these developments, the Elections (Amendment) Ordinance 2024 was issued on May 27 which amended Section 140 of the Elections Act and allowed for retired judges to be appointed to the election tribunals and that too without the consultation of the chief justice.

According to the petition, there was no legal remedy left to the petitioner other than approaching the IHC.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2024