IHC takes up plea against election ordinance

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is set to take up petitions filed by the PTI against the Election Act (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024, today (Thursday).

This presidential decree allows the appointment of retired judges as election tribunals without the approval of a provincial chief justice.

A single-member bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq will hear the pleas filed by the PTI’s Shoaib Shaheen, Ali Bukhari, and Amir Mughal and also address the objections raised by the court’s registrar office.

The secretary of law, the secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and the chief election commissioner are among those named as respondents in the case.

The petitions contend that the Election Act (Amendment) Ordinance 2024 conflicts with certain provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan and should be declared null and void. They also argue that the ECP’s action against the election tribunal should be declared illegal and that the ordinance should be suspended until the case is resolved.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Shahid Karim has referred a petition filed by Advocate Azhar Siddique against the ordinance to the LHC chief justice for the formation of a larger bench or listing the petition for hearing before “the relevant bench.”

In a written order, Justice Karim noted that a similar petition is pending before another LHC judge, Shams Mehmood Mirza.

Azhar Siddique submitted in the petition that the ordinance was unconstitutional as a law regarding the appointment of the election tribunal already existed. He said the government issued the ordinance only to counter an order of the LHC.

On May 29, a single-member LHC bench comprising Justice Karim ordered the ECP to notify six more election tribunals for Punjab in light of the nominations sent by the chief justice.

However, a day later, on May 27, Acting President Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani passed the Election (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024, which provided for the appointment of retired judges as election tribunals without consulting the chief justice of the respective high court.