CB sets aside objections to rigging petitions

ISLAMABAD:

A constitutional bench (CB) of the Supreme Court on Friday set aside the objections raised by the court's registrar office to the petitions, seeking the formation of a judicial commission to launch a probe into the allegations that the February 8, 2024 general elections were highly rigged.

One of the members of the bench, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, however, asked counsel for a petitioner as to how the court could constitute a judicial commission when a forum — election tribunals — was available to address elections complaints.

A five-member CB led by Justice Aminuddin Khan on Friday took up the petitions filed under Article 183 (3) by various petitioners including former prime minister Imran Khan and PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat along with the objections raised to them by the SC registrar office.

As the hearing began, Justice Aminuddin Khan asked Imran's counsel Hamid Khan, who appeared via video link, whether he had submitted a reply. Hamid Khan responded that he had submitted a reply along with additional documents, including details from the Quetta lawyers' blast inquiry commission.

Justice Khan remarked that the court had taken suo motu notice of that matter at the time "but now it seems the authority to take suo motu notice may no longer exist".

Hamid Khan replied that the decision of the ten-member bench in the Memo Commission case is also available, which involved substantial legal discussion.

Justice Jamal Mandokhail noted that in both the Memogate and Quetta lawyers' incident cases, no alternate judicial forums were available. He questioned how a constitutional bench could create a new forum when alternatives already exist.

Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar asked Khan as to how many election petitions were currently pending in the election tribunals. "If your argument is accepted then the entire process will come to a halt and all election tribunal cases will have to be nullified," he said.

Subsequently, after consultation, the CB set aside the objections raised by the registrar office and directed it to assign numbers to the petitions. The case was adjourned for an indefinite period.