IHC bars new election tribunals from hearing PMLN lawmakers’ cases

ISLAMABAD: After the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) greenlighted transferring the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leaders’ cases, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued directives to new poll tribunals to continue their proceedings till further orders.

The orders were issued by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq while hearing the petitions against the ordinance for the Election Act amendments. The hearing was attended by counsels representing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed candidates and ECP.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Farooq expressed outrage over the ECP’s order and remarked that the decision to change the election tribunals could not be upheld. The high court questioned the election watchdog about grounds which led it to change the tribunals which were tasked to hear pleas against the ruling party’s lawmakers’ election victory. To this, the ECP lawyer argued that the previous tribunals did not follow procedures.

Justice Farooq remarked that the ECP was seemingly setting a new precedent by transferring the tribunals. He added that the commission’s decision would not be considered legal until it proves “discrimination”, otherwise, it could also lead to contempt proceedings. “Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri is a jurist of this court who was deputed to the tribunal by the ECP over my request. Why did ECP transfer the cases without challenging an order? A case can be transferred on the grounds of discrimination but there is also a procedure which needs to be followed by requesting the concerned judge not to hear the case,” the IHC CJ observed.

The jurist also asked the government about reasons for promulgating the Election Act amendments via an ordinance after dissolving the legal modifications in a hurried manner. He stressed that the ECP should have challenged the previous tribunals’ orders first instead of transferring the cases.

During the hearing, the counsel from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed candidate Advocate Shoaib Shaheen informed the IHC that the ECP’s decision would be challenged. He further said that it came to his knowledge via media reports that Justice retired Shakoor Paracha was being appointed as the tribunal’s judge. The counsel sought a court order to uphold the status of the election tribunals. “The tribunal that has been recently constituted is only for Islamabad?” questioned the IHC CJ. To this, the ECP lawyer replied that he did not carry a copy of the June 7 notice which he would provide to the high court after collecting its details.

Justice Farooq reprimanded the ECP lawyer for not having the notice’s copy which was already being circulated in the media. After listening to arguments from all parties in the case, the IHC barred the new election tribunals from continuing proceedings till the next hearing.