Justice Rasaal Hasan Syed of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has proposed the formation of a larger bench to deliberate on a plea challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) authority to disqualify individuals.
The proposal has been forwarded to LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum for consideration.
The case was brought by Munir Ahmed, represented by Advocate Azhar Siddique, who argued that Section 137(4) of the Election Act, 2017 is in violation of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973.
The petitioner contended that under Article 63(2) of the Constitution, the speaker of the National Assembly does not have the authority to refer disqualification matters to the ECP as prescribed by Section 137 or other provisions of the Election Act, 2017.
He argued that the ECP's jurisdiction in such cases must adhere strictly to constitutional principles.
Further, the plea maintained that Section 174 of the Election Act, 2017 cannot be invoked for disqualifying parliamentarians unless it pertains to actions under Section 167 in conjunction with Section 174.
The petitioner highlighted that penalties and offences serve different purposes and cannot be conflated. He insisted that penalties must be preceded by a proper trial conducted in accordance with Articles 4, 5, and 10-A of the Constitution.
The petitioner asserted that interim actions by the ECP under Sections 137 or 174 of the Election Act, 2017 are unconstitutional unless they strictly adhere to the principles of fair trial and due process as enshrined in Article 10-A.
He requested that the ECP be restrained from issuing any orders until the writ petition is resolved.
The plea also argued that if Section 137 is deemed constitutional, the ECP must exercise its jurisdiction independently and not rely on directives from the speaker or other authorities.
Moreover, actions addressing material irregularities must adhere to the prescribed 120-day time limit for each year, and no composite action is permissible under the law.
The petitioner further argued that disqualifying a lawmaker for life under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution requires a declaration from a court of law. "Since the ECP is not a court, it cannot issue the declaration," the lawyer contended.
The plea argued that empowering the ECP to act on disqualification requests from private individuals could lead to harassment of parliamentarians. It asserted that expanding the ECP's scope of powers contradicts the Constitution and the rule of law.
ECP cannot be given the authority to take action on the disqualification plea submitted by a private person which will harass the members of the parliament.
The petition also referred to the disqualification of MPA Mian Tariq Mehmood as a prime example of the ECP's alleged misuse of authority.
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