PTI challenges ECP decision on party polls

LHC seeks replies till 12th on PTI plea on DROs, ROs

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision of nullifying its intra-party elections held in June 2022 in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on the grounds that the electoral body lacked the authority to question internal elections of any political party.

Barrister Ali Zafar filed the petition on behalf of founding PTI chairman Imran Khan against the ECP ruling announced on Nov 23.
The petition alleged that the ECP showed discrimination by raising objections against the PTI elections without any legal basis.

The petition asserted that the ECP lacked the authority to question the internal elections of any political party, as there were hundreds of registered parties in the country, whose intra-party elections had never been scrutinised by the commission.

The petition argued that the ECP overstepped its bounds by acting as a trial court and raising concerns about the party’s adherence to its constitution during the intra-party elections.

DROs & ROsThe Lahore High Court sought replies from respondents by Dec 12 on the PTI’s plea challenging the appointment of officials from Punjab’s bureaucracy as district returning officers (DROs), returning officers (ROs), and assistant returning officers (AROs) for the upcoming general elections on Feb 8, 2024.

The court also sought the assistance of Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan. The petitioner, Additional PTI Secretary General Umair Khan Niazi, requested the court to declare the relevant sections 50(1)(b) and 51 (1) of Elections Act 2017 as illegal and unconstitutional under which the DROs, ROs, and AROs were appointed.