PTI wants poll rigging case hearing from 25th

A full bench of the Supreme Court is going to hear the PTI’s appeal against a provincial high court’s order to allocate additional reserved seats to various political parties from Monday.

However, the PTI and its chief Imran Khan have also approached the Supreme Court requesting for an early hearing for their constitution petition seeking formation of a judicial commission to probe alleged rigging in the February 2024 general elections.

“It is respectfully prayed that the matter may kindly be fixed on June 25, 2024 (in the week commencing on June 24),” said the early hearing application which is moved through Hamid Khan Advocate.

Three month ago, the PTI and Imran Khan had moved a petition in the top court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, seeking a probe into alleged rigging in the February 8 general elections.

“That a judicial commission, consisting of serving Supreme Court judges holding no bias towards anyone, be formed to inquire, audit, and examine the manner and process of the general elections of February 8, 2024, and the developments that took place thereafter of compiling false and fraudulent results rendering winners into losers and losers into winners,” Imran prayed in his petition.

The petition, jointly submitted by the PTI and Imran Khan, said that the Supreme Court cannot observe the violation of the Constitution and the government’s failure to enforce fundamental rights under the Constitution.

They further requested the top court to immediately suspend all consequential acts of forming governments at the federal level and in Punjab at the provincial level, until the results of the judicial probe are made public.

“There were obvious and apparent developments on the 8th and 9th of February 2024, witnessed by the whole country, that have completely exposed this fraudulent game of turning losers into winners,” the PTI contended in its petition.

The petition named the federation of Pakistan, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the PML-N, the PPP, and the MQM-P as respondents.

Giving grounds of early hearing, the application stated that the matter pertains to election. It said the Constitution imposes a duty upon the ECP to hold free, fair and transparent elections but it failed to perform its duties as given in Articles 218 & 219.

“[The] petitioner was constrained to file the titled petition with prayers that the elections, having been rigged and manipulated, deny political justice to the people of Pakistan and those genuinely elected and in order to give powers to the ‘true’ public representatives it needs to be investigated by appointing a judicial commission consisting of serving SC judge,” said the application.

It noted that during the hearing of NAB amendments case on May 31, Imran Khan had appeared before the court from Adiala Jail via video link and requested for listing of two petitions related to violation of human rights as well as alleged massive rigging during the Feb 8 elections.

“Whereupon the CJP [had] inquired about his legal representation. He [had] replied that Hamid Khan was his counsel. The CJP [had] replied that Hamid Khan was a senior counsel and knew how to fix the matter, hence, this application for early hearing. “An important constitutional question of great public importance is involved but the case has not been fixed since its filing,” it added.