LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court on Friday issued notices to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on two petitions of former PTI chairman Imran Khan challenging his five-year disqualification in Toshakhana case and cancellation of his party polls held last year.
The IHC last week had rejected Imran Khan`s application seeking withdrawal of his appeal against his disqualification in order to enable him to pursue the matter in the LHC. The bench asked the petitioner’s counsel to address the point of jurisdiction of the LHC to hear the matter after a decision by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The counsel told the bench that the petition against the disqualification needed to be decided at the earliest before the next general election. He urged the bench to issue notices to the respondents on merits of the petitions. The bench observed that the question of the jurisdiction was crucial even when notices were issued to the parties.
An ECP deputy director told the court that Shahzad Shaukat advocate would represent the commission before the bench. He said Shahzad was not available due to some unavoidable reasons and asked the court to issue notices to the respondents. The bench after hearing the ECP official issued notices to the ECP on both petitions.
Justice Shujaat Hussain of the LHC had referred the petitions of Imran Khan to the full bench. Imran Khan contended in his petition that the ECP, despite his clear explanations for Toshakhana gifts, de-seated him as an MNA from constituency NA-95 of Mianwali.
He also accused the ECP of issuing another order on October 23 last, directing the PTI to hold party elections in 20 days. Imran asked the court to set aside his disqualification so that he could contest the upcoming general elections. He also challenged the ECP order instructing the PTI to hold fresh intra-party polls and asked the court to declare the intra-party elections conducted on June 10, 2022, as valid.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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