Zubair Qureshi
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reserved its verdict on petitions challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notifications of successful candidates from NA-46, 47 and 48 of the National Assembly constituencies.
The IHC Chief Justice AamerFarooq reserved the judgment Wednesday after hearing petitions filed by PTI-backed candidates Aamir Mughal (NA-46) ShoaibShaheen (NA-47) and Ali Bukhari (NA-48).
The court is expected to announce the verdict on Thursday (today).
Earlier, while hearing the petition, the IHC CJ AamerFarooq remarked the ECP was aware of having received appeals challenging the electoral results and it was the first and the foremost duty of the commission to first decide on them.
The electoral watchdog’s lawyer argued that the commission had issued notices on the petitions, and according to Form 47, postal ballots were not included in the results, and the allegations of the petitioners were limited to Form 47.
The IHC CJ observed that the commission had a request pending therefore a decision should first have been made on it. In response, the ECP lawyer expressed the desire to provide “some legal references on the court’s question.”
The Chief Justice asked what would happen to the notification if the ECP’s decision on the pending request turned out to be different.
The ECP’s counsel informed the court, “The commission had mentioned in its order that if the process of consolidation [of results] had not been completed the notification should be stopped.”
The judge remarked that the RO should have done the consolidation first. The ECP was aware that it had a pending request. Wasn’t it better if the commission had waited for the decision on those requests first?”
The judge emphasized that ShoaibShaheen filed a request in the IHC on Saturday Feb 10, 2024 but due to unavailability of a judge, the request could not be heard. When the request was filed in the high court, the commission had not notified the successful candidate. After the notification was issued on Monday, the request was amended and re-filed.
