PHC stays NA-1 by-election in Chitral

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday issued a stay order, stopping the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from holding a by-election on NA-1 Chitral.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal heard the case and issued notices to the attorney general (AG) of Pakistan and the ECP.

The ECP had disqualified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Member National Assembly (MNA) Abdul Latif recently and ordered a by-election in the constituency. Abdul Latif’s counsel Advocate Moazzam Butt told the court that his client was elected as MNA from NA-1 Chitral.

He informed the court that the speaker of the National Assembly forwarded a disqualification reference to the ECP without serving any notice on his client.

The counsel added that the speaker’s reference was based on a verdict by an anti-terrorism court which had sentenced the petitioner to 10-year imprisonment and recommended his disqualification.

However, he argued, the ECP did not issue any notice or conduct a proper hearing before declaring the petitioner disqualified.

The counsel said that the ECP had now declared the NA-1 Chitral seat vacant and issued a schedule for the by-election. He argued that according to the law, once a reference was submitted to the ECP, it must decide the matter within 90 days. The counsel mentioned that the anti-terrorism court had delivered its judgment in the petitioner’s absence, and an appeal against the sentence has already been filed. The bench adjourned the hearing till August 20 after staying the by-election for NA-1 Chitral and issuing notices to the AG and the ECP.