PHC restores 5 JUI-F councillors

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday temporarily restored the membership of five Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl district councillors, who were declared disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for violating party’s discipline by casting votes to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidates in district nazim election.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Irshad Qaiser and Justice Qalandar Ali Khan suspended the ECP notification about cancellation of the membership of five JUI-F district councillors from Lakki Marwat.
The court issued notice to the ECP, directing to submit reply in the case before the next hearing.Five JUI-F district councillors from Lakki Marwat, including Maulana Asghar Ali, Ali Gul, Mohammad Khalid, Haji Aftab and Patras Masih had challenged the ECP decision in the high court. They had sought restoration of their membership as district councilors.
The JUI-F had terminated the basic party membership of the five councillors for violating party discipline during elections for tehsil and district nazims in the district.The JUI-F then filed a case with the ECP for cancelation of the membership of the councilors, which the ECP accepted and cancelled their membership as district councillors.
The petitioners’ lawyer, Qazi Muhammad Anwar submitted before the bench that the petitioners were elected as district councillors in the May 30, 2015 Local Government Elections on the JUI-F tickets.
He said that the JUI-F had boycotted the election of nazim and naib nazim in the district. During election, he submitted, the JUI-F district councillors voted for to the PTI as there was no party candidate in the contest.
After the party decision, he informed the bench that a letter was sent to ECP for declaring them disqualified as district councillors for violating party discipline during elections.
He said that after hearing both the parties, the ECP then declared the petitioners disqualified. He submitted before the bench that the ECP decision to disqualify the petitioners was illegal and unlawful.
Qazi Anwar stated that the councillors did not violate the party’s discipline as the party had announced boycott of the election.