PHC restores Sadaf Ihsan as MNA, declares ECP verdict null and void

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday declared the suspension of membership of Sadaf Ihsan of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF), who was elected on reserved seat to the National Assembly, null and void and restored her membership.

A two-member bench of the PHC comprising Justice SM Attique Shah and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah heard the petition.

Ishaq Shah advocate and Mohsin Kamran Siddique appeared for the petitioner and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), respectively. Counsel for Hina Bibi, another woman from the JUIF who had moved the ECP claiming that her name was mentioned in the priority list, represented her during the course of hearing.

Counsel for the petitioner argued that his client had been elected to the National Assembly on the JUIF reserved seat and the ECP had notified her election as well on March 4 last.

He said the ECP later stopped Sadaf Ihsan from taking oath after a complaint was lodged by Hina Bibi that the former had neither any affiliation with the JUIF nor her name was in the list of party candidates for reserved seats.

He argued the ECP then conducted an inquiry and subsequently suspended Sadaf Ihsan’s membership of the National Assembly.

The lawyer said the ECP had violated its jurisdiction by suspending the NA membership of his client, saying it was the job of election tribunals already in place to hear such petitions.

During the course of hearing, Justice Sahibzada Asadullah asked the ECP lawyer to show a law under which the commission could suspend its own notification about election of a lawmaker after its issuance.

The lawyer presented various sections of the Election Act and Constitution in support of his claim but those were turned down by the judge, observing that those laws were related to complaints of rigging in elections.

He said JUIF chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had written to the ECP stating that the party had not given the name of Sadaf Ihsan on the priority list. He pleaded the ECP then restrained Sadaf Ihsan from taking oath as an MNA and suspended her membership.

Counsel for Hina Bibi argued that his client’s name was included in the list of candidates on reserved seats on the orders of the Supreme Court, saying that she was entitled to be declared an MNA. He maintained that the name of Sadaf Ihsan was nowhere in the list.

After hearing arguments from all parties, the court declared the ECP verdict null and void and restored the membership of Sadaf Ihsan as an MNA.

It is worth mentioning here that Hina Bibi was in the third position on the priority list submitted by the JUIF to ECP.