IHC reserves decision on maintainability of Gilani’s appeal

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday reserved judgment on maintainability of an intra-court appeal (ICA) filed by Senator Yousaf Raza Gilani who had challenged rejection of his seven votes in Senate chairman elections.

A division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri heard the ICA of Gilani. The bench reserved the decision after the two sides concluded their arguments.

Petitioner's counsel Farook H Naek also requested for permission to submit written arguments in the case and adopted the stance that presiding officer for the Senate elections was appointed by the President of Pakistan.

READ Gilani, son say not ECP’s domain to hear plea

He alleged that presiding officer had misused his powers while rejecting the votes of his client during the election process. He further argued that only a candidate could come up to challenge such matters instead of the voters.

The council said, not a single voter was given extra ballot -paper to cast his vote after the rejection of his previous vote. He said the presiding officer had asked his candidate to challenge the decision before election tribunal if they wanted. After the arguments, the court reserved its judgment on maintainability of the ICA.

Earlier, a single member bench had dismissed the same case of Gilani stating that the parliamentary affairs could not be challenged in courts.