PHC reserves verdict on ECP decision

 Dir by-polls

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday reserved verdict in a writ petition filed against the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that had declared by-election in the provincial assembly constituency PK-95 (Lower Dir) as void because of the disenfranchisement of women.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan reserved the decision after detailed arguments from the lawyers of Aizazul Mulk Afkari, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Lower Dir district chief, who had won the by-election and that of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The PHC on June 2015 had already suspended the decision of the ECP that had declared the JI winning candidate on the provincial assembly constituency, PK-95 Lower Dir, as void because of the disenfranchisement of women.

The court had also suspended the ECP’s schedule for re-election in the constituency till decision in the case.During hearing of the case, the petitioner’s lawyers Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik and Amir Javed submitted before the bench that Aizazul Mulk Afkari, the JI Lower Dir district chief, had defeated Awami National Party (ANP)’s Bahadur Khan. They said that JI candidate had secured 20,288 votes against the 16,439 obtained by the ANP candidate.

On June 2, 2015, they said, the ECP decided not to notify the returned candidate and announced to hold fresh election after receiving media reports and complaints from women social workers that women were stopped from their right to cast votes in the election.

The lawyers said that Aizazul Mulk Afkari then challenged the ECP’s decision in the high court. The petitioner’s lawyers submitted that no political party or candidates stopped the women from casting their votes in the by-election. They said that in the past elections also the women did not come out of their homes to vote due to cultural constraints.

They pointed out that the issue was raised by some Islamabad-based female activists of the non-governmental organizations (NGO), who had filed complaint in the ECP about disenfranchisement of women.

They also submitted that the provincial government, District Returning Officer and Returning Officer also stated in their reports that no woman was stopped from casting votes in the constituency and that they did not exercise the right to vote of their own free will.

The civil society workers, who had raised the issue did not belong to the constituency and no one visited the constituency on the polling day, they added.

They said the ECP decision was a violation of Articles 3, 25 and 218 of the Constitution. They said that no voter from the constituency had filed a complaint about being barred from voting and the action had been taken merely on the basis of media reports and due to the initiative of the NGOs.

The ECP lawyer, Shumail Ahmad Butt submitted that first the high court had no jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution to decide the case in a writ petition. He submitted that the ECP had given the decision on presumption as of the total 53,817 female voters in the constituency, not a single woman cast her vote in the May 7 by-poll.

The lawyer submitted that the practice of disallowing the women from voting had continued unchecked for years under verbal and written agreements between candidates, political parties and local elders in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a few other areas. However, this was the first time in Pakistan that the ECP took notice of the issue and ordered re-election in the constituency.

He said that if the action was not taken, the practice would continue like in the past general elections. He said that after the ECP decision the candidates in Local Government Election allowed women and they cast votes and if the women did not want to participate in election then why they came out for casting votes in local government election.

The PK-95 seat had fallen vacant after the JI head, Sirajul Haq, was elected member of the Senate.