CB to hear election law challenge

Will also address PTI petition for overseas Pakistanis' right to vote

ISLAMABAD:

The Constitutional Bench (CB) of the Supreme Court is going to take up on December 4 a petition filed by PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan against amendments in the country's election law, the Election Act, 2017.

A six-member CB led by Justice Aminuddin Khan will hear the petition along with the appeal filed against the objections raised to the petition by the SC Registrar Office.

On January 13, a three-member SC bench upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) December 22, 2023 order declaring the PTI's intra-party polls null and void.

As a consequence of the SC verdict and its misinterpretation by the ECP, the PTI candidates had to contest the February 8 general elections as independents.

Eighty such independent candidates reached the National Assembly and later joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in an apparent bid to claim reserved seats for women and minorities.

The ECP, however, refused to allocate the seats to the party, a decision that the SIC challenged in the Supreme Court.

On July 12, a full bench of the apex court through a majority of 8 to 5 resurrected the PTI as a parliamentary party, noting that 39 of the lawmakers who had submitted certificates of their affiliation with the PTI along with their nomination papers were already PTI lawmakers.

The SC ruled that the remaining 41 lawmakers who had not submitted the affiliation certificates at the time of nomination papers' submission could do that now within a period of 15 days.

The ruling coalition while filing a review petition against the SC ruling amended the Election Act, 2017, barring independent members who joined a political party after announcement of official elections results from switching affiliations.

The PTI later challenged the amendments in the apex court.

According to a cause list issued by the CB, the bench that is going to take up the PTI petition will also include Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

The SC Registrar had raised objections to the petition and the bench will also hear the PTI appeal against the objections.

Meanwhile, the CB has scheduled the hearing of a PTI petition seeking voting rights for overseas Pakistanis. A six-member bench, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, will hear the case on December 2. The Registrar's Office has issued notices to the relevant parties.

The Supreme Court has scheduled the audio leaks case for hearing on December 2. A six-member bench, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, will preside over the case. The Registrar's Office has issued notices to the PTI founder and other parties involved.