ECP's reply sought on Imran's plea challenging jail trial

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday turned down a request to immediately halt former premier Imran Khan’s jail trial in contempt proceedings for allegedly using derogatory and contemptuous remarks against the chief election commissioner and sought a reply from the ECP.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Aalia Neelum heard the case.

During the proceeding, the ECP’s counsel updated the bench about the home department's notification regarding Imran's jail trial.

During the proceedings, the bench inquired if the petitioner's counsel had contested the notification anywhere, to which the counsels answered in the negative and requested the court for a few days to file a challenge against the notification.

They prayed the court to adjourn the proceedings for two or three days.

The bench, however, stated that the challenge should have been raised first and questioned how could it hear a case regarding an ECP notification in Islamabad, suggesting the petitioner should have approached either the Islamabad High Court or the Rawalpindi bench of the LHC.

Citing a precedent, the petitioner's counsel argued that a similar matter from Rawalpindi had been forwarded to the principal seat.

At this, Justice Aalia Neelum remarked that the unavailability of judges to form a bench had prompted the transfer of the matter to the principal seat.
Petition

The petitioner – Imran Khan – had requested the court to set aside the ECP’s impugned order of November 30, 2023 – which the ECP announced on December 6, 2023 – under which the commission decided to conduct his trial or proceedings in Adiala Jail on account of unspecified security reasons.

The PTI’s founding chairman also appealed to the court to declare the secretive and closed-door jail trial a blatant violation of his fundamental rights.

He requested the concerned authorities to conduct his trial openly in a public court, akin to regular proceedings.

Additionally, he urged for a halt to the proceedings before the election commission under the Election Act 2017, restraining the CEC from conducting hearings in the jail, issuing any orders, or implementing coercive measures against him.

The petitioner included the Federation of Pakistan, represented by the Secretary of the Ministry of Law and Justice, the ECP with its CEC, the secretary of the ECP, the director general of law at the ECP, the secretary of the Ministry of Interior, the superintendent of district Adiala Jail, and the additional inspector general of police (operations) as respondents.Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday reserved its verdict on petitions challenging the recently held intra-party polls of the PTI.

In the intra-party elections held earlier in December on the directives issued by the electoral body, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected as the party's new chairman.

Read ECP says number of voters exceeds 128.5m

Gohar was nominated by Imran Khan, the founding chairman of PTI who is now incarcerated in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail.

At the start of the hearing, PTI’s counsel Barrister Ali Zafar maintained that the tenure of a party's chairman was five years and the duration of the panel is three years, hence, the intra-party elections are unnecessary when the chairman is elected unopposed.

A member of the ECP said that the matter had not been left without definition as the law stated holding polls in accordance with the established regulations.

He argued that the party's constitution provided a clear explanation of the procedures for conducting intra-party polls but the Elections Act did specify who qualifies as a member.

Zafar maintained that the ECP had given a verdict on Feb 22 that specified that any individual who was not a party member could not cast vote in party elections.

He added that the pleas against the party's intra-party elections suggested that the polls were secret.

When asked by another member if it was decided that the polls would be held unopposed, Zafar replied in the negative, mentioning that the election schedule of the party had been posted outside all PTI offices.

The counsel elaborated that the party had more than 0.83 million voters. "Apart from a few people, no one approached the ECP," he said, adding that the PTI was the only party which had all its records accessible online.

Countering the ECP's argument, the PTI counsel said that none of the people who had reservations had submitted fees to the party except Akbar S Babar, and hence, he was the only one to retain his status as a party member.

He added that none of the petitioners had filed nomination papers, stressing that only party members were eligible to challenge PTI's intra-party polls.

Read more ECP reserves verdict on pleas challenging PTI intra-party polls

Zafar asked the ECP member what violation did the party commit. "Did we violate the Elections Act? No we did not."

The counsel clarified that Babar's plea was for all parties to conduct intra-party polls afresh. He then urged the ECP to dismiss all petitions challenging the party's intra-party polls.

The counsels of other petitioners gave their arguments, following which the ECP reserved its verdict on the pleas.

Earlier, PTI founding member Akbar S Babar, who later developed differences with its leadership, challenged the party's intra-party polls.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, he requested that the PTI should not be allowed to use the ‘cricket bat’ as its electoral symbol until it held transparent intra-party polls.

He also asked the commission to appoint an independent third-party monitor to conduct the PTI’s fresh intra-party polls.

Babar termed the PTI’s intra-party elections mere “pretence and deception”.

He added that the “fraudulent” election process had deprived the PTI members of their right to vote and participate in the polls.

Babar further contended that the PTI had not disclosed the rules and regulations of the intra-party polls; their schedule and procedure; and time for the submission of nomination papers.

The report of the intra-party election results was submitted to the ECP by PTI Chief Election Commissioner Niazullah Niazi.

The commission was provided with the report on the intra-party poll results of the PTI central and provincial organisations.