PTI plea for canvassing admitted

LAHORE
The Lahore High Court Justice Ayesha A Malik on Tuesday admitted for hearing a petition of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), challenging a notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan barring members of national and provincial assemblies from participating in campaigns for by-elections going to be held in various constituencies.
The court after admitting the PTI’s petition has issued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan to submit a written reply by Wednesday (today). Shoaib Siddique of the PTI had challenged the ban on parliamentarians to run election campaigns of their candidates. The petitioner submitted that the impugned notification was in sheer violation of the fundamental rights and norms of democracy.
The petitioner submitted that PTI Chairman Imran Khan was a Member of the National Assembly and by virtue of the impugned ban could not visit the area of any political constituency, where bye-elections were being held.
He said it was integral to an electoral campaign that party leaders visit the constituencies and address the electorate and meet workers. He said the impugned notification stifled the electioneering plans of the political party by curbing its political activism, which was a core value of any parliamentary democracy.
He argued that the impugned notification was unconstitutional and offended fundamental rights. He prayed the court to strike down the code of conduct announced by the ECP for being unconstitutional.