Islamabad: Supreme Court Justice Athar Minallah said on Thursday that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has no right to expel any party from the elections.
“The Election Commission has no right to disqualify any political party from participating [in the elections],” Justice Minallah told the full 13-judge court led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Kazi Faez Isa hearing the Sunni alliance. Council (SIK) appealed against the Peshawar High Court (PHC) order to cancel the vacancy.
The party included Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
In today’s hearing, Justice Muneeb asked which party president Hamid Raza associated himself with the party, Justice Mandokhail asked if a candidate can change his party after withdrawal of nomination papers.
ECP lawyer Sikander Bashir, explaining the documents and Raza’s political affiliation, said that the documents sent by the SIK chief are related to PTI-Nazriati (PTI-N), which is actually a very different political party and has nothing to do with PTI advocates. he said.
Bashir said, “Raza has sworn that he is affiliated with PTI-N.
However, the politician won the election as an independent candidate and did not enter the PTI-N ticket, but actually issued a certificate showing his affiliation with the PTI.
Further, CJP Isa asked whether it is necessary to attach the affiliation certificate to the party for which the election is to be held.
“Candidates must show their declaration and party affiliation,” the ECP lawyer said, adding that if the declaration and political affiliation do not match, the candidate is considered independent.
However, the Chief Justice said that there was no contradiction in the certificate and that the ECP actually changed the status of the candidate.
“Why [candidates] not be considered belonging to PTI?” CJP Isa said that there were some problems in the documents submitted by the ECP in the high court.
Justice Malik also asked why EU candidates declared themselves independent when they declared their affiliation with a political party.
Further, Justice Muneeb said that the SC did not want to disqualify PTI from the elections, citing the apex court’s decision upholding the EU’s decision to disqualify PTI’s logo.
“You [ECP] calmly said that the candidate should be declared independent as [PTI] was not given the election symbol […] how did you come to such a big decision?” Justice Muneeb said.
“An independent candidate can also be given the ‘bat’ symbol,” CJP Isa said, adding that the court cannot do anything if someone misinterprets its decision.
The court then directed the election authority to provide the list of seats allotted to other lawyers along with the certificates and declarations of the candidates.
The case was adjourned until next week on July 1.
