Incomplete ECP quorum raises questions
A file photo of the Sindh High Court building.
With the Local Government elections due next month, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) petition on incomplete quorum of Election Commission of Pakistan has yet to be decided.
A two-member bench of Sindh High Court headed by Justice KK Agha while hearing an application filed by Kanwar Naveed Jameel, Javed Hanif and others on behalf of MQM-P has ordered Attorney General and Advocate General to ensure attendance besides ordering the Secretary Local government to submit reply.
Local body elections were announced in Karachi and Hyderabad on January 15, however, the petitioner's lawyer, Tariq Mansoor Advocate, took the position that the ECP quorum was incomplete from 25 July 2021 to 30 May 2022 under Article 2 of the Constitution. During that period, all other notifications and decisions made by the ECP, including constituencies, voter lists, and holding of elections, had no constitutional status.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2022.