PHC verdict on LG Act cases likely today

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) is likely to decide the cases filed against holding of local government (LG) elections under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013 today.
A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Mrs Justice Irshad Qaiser heard arguments from the two identical writ petitions filed by Awami National Party (ANP) parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) provincial secretary information Abdul Jalil Jan.
The bench adjourned the cases for today (Wednesday) after hearing arguments from the lawyers, including Khushdil Khan, Abdul Latif Afridi and Muhammad Essa Khan. During hearing of the cases, Qazi Muhammad Anwar raised preliminary objection to the petitions filed against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013 claiming that the petitioners were not the aggrieved persons.
They argued these were not habeas corpus petitions as certain sections of the Act had been challenged in the petitions. The petitioner’s lawyer Khushdil Khan submitted that under Article 17 of the Constitution, the petitioner was the parliamentary leader of a party that was registered and being resident the KP he was the aggrieved person.