Arguments sought in election rigging case

LAHORE
The Lahore High Court Justice Ayesha A Malik Monday sought parties’ arguments on an application of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-Punjab to become party to petitions against formation and proceedings of 2013 general election alleged rigging probe Judicial Commission.
The party’s Punjab-chapter president Ijaz Chaudhry filed the application saying the proceedings of the JC could not be challenged after its formation. Petitioner’s counsel argued that all political parties were appearing before the commission and submitting their point of view on the rigging allegations. He said assailing the formation of the commission by a common citizen was unlawful.
The counsel asked the court to make the PTI a necessary party to the case and dismiss all petitions against the JC for being non-maintainable.
Justice Ayesha A Malik adjourned hearing for April 29 and asked counsels of all parties to come up with arguments on the PTI’s application.
Advocate AK Dogar of Lawyers Foundation for Justice and others filed the petitions assailing the legality of the Judicial Commission. Petitioners said the constitution of the commission was in violation of the Constitution. They stated that the impugned ordinance was not only in violation of Article 225 of the Constitution but was also the result of use of force. They stated that it appeared from the chronology of events during the four months of sit-in by PTI established that a political party had forced the government to enter into some kind of agreement with them, which had resulted in this ordinance. The petitioners said the impugned ordinance was due to show of force, which amounted to subverting and undermining the Constitution.
Petitioners stated that in light of the Supreme Court judgments, the election matters could only be raised in election tribunals for which the election commission was the only judge. They requested to strike down the ordinance for being ultra vires Article 225 of the Constitution.