PHC overturns ECP decision to nullify PK-95 by-poll result

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday declared void the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decision of nullifying the PK-95 by-poll result and withholding notification of Jamaat-i-Islami candidate Aizazul Mulk Afkari as Member of Provincial Assembly because of disenfranchisement of women.

A single bench headed by PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel announced the decision, which had been reserved by a division bench comprising of the chief justice and Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan on February 11, 2016. “The writ petition is allowed. The ECP is directed to issue notification of the petitioner as returned candidate on PK-95,” the chief justice stated in the short order.

On June 2, 2015, the ECP decided not to notify the returned candidate and announced to hold fresh election after receiving media reports and complaints from women social workers that women were stopped from the right to cast votes in the election.

Aizazul Mulk Afkari moved the Peshawar High Court against the ECP’s decision. The petitioner claimed that no political party or candidate stopped the women from casting votes in the by-election. He pointed out that in the past elections also the women did not come out of homes to vote due to cultural constraints in his constituency.

A panel of lawyers including Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik, Amir Javed and Fida Gul appeared for the petitioner.During arguments of the case, the petitioner’s lawyers submitted before the bench that Aizazul Mulk Afkari, the JI Lower Dir district chief, had defeated Awami National Party (ANP)’s Bahadur Khan in the by-election. They said the JI candidate had secured 20,288 votes against the 16,439 of the ANP contestant.

The ECP lawyer, Shumail Ahmad Butt, submitted that the high court had no jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution to decide the case in a writ petition. He submitted that the ECP had given the decision as not a single woman cast her vote in the May 7 by-polls out of the total 53,817 female voters in the constituency.