Plea for polls under judiciary PHC seeks ECP’s reply to PTI’s petition

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Monday issued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asking it to submit its reply to a writ petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seeking transparent general elections and a level-playing field for electioneering.

A division bench of the PHC, comprising Justice Shakil Ahmad and Justice Waqar Ahmad, issued the notice while hearing the PTI writ petition. Moazzam Butt represented the PTI, while Advocate General Amir Javed appeared on behalf of the caretaker government.

The petitioner complained that the elections had been slated for February 8 but the PTI was not being provided with a level playing field, while the other political parties were carrying out their campaign.

Butt argued that hurdles were being created for the PTI through different means to keep it away from the electioneering. He contended that the KP caretaker government was working against the Constitution though it could not function beyond 90 days.

The counsel argued that the KP governor had overstepped his authority after the death of the caretaker chief minister Muhammad Azam Khan and appointed Syed Arshad Hussain Shah as the caretaker CM after consulting former CM Mahmood Khan and opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani.

The court was told that it was not the job of institutions to influence the electoral process, as their duties and functions had been clearly defined in the Constitution.

“It would be a violation of the Constitution and negation of their oath if the law-enforcement agencies play a role in the election process. There are clear directives of the Supreme Court on this subject in the case of ex-army chief Mirza Alam Beg,” the lawyer elaborated.

The petitioner believed that the CEC was influencing the electoral process and requested the court to play a role by appointing all the returning officers (ROs), as there would be problems if these duties were assigned to the officials from other institutions in light of the ECP directives.

He said the PTI would not be provided with a level playing field and suggested that the Supreme Court should make the electoral process transparent by appointing the ROs from the judiciary.

The PTI counsel said that Article 218 of the Constitution clearly states that the CEC would appoint the ROs after consulting the SC chief justice. The petitioner told the court that he was PTI spokesperson and alleged that its leadership was being implicated in fake cases. He cited the cases instituted against former speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser on corruption charges and other party leaders. The counsel said in such a situation, the SC should appoint ROs from the judiciary to ensure fair and transparent elections.