Amended constitution case: ECP gives PkMAP ‘last chance’ to submit reply

ISLAMABAD: The electoral body has given Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), a political party headed by Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Mehmood Khan Achakzai, the “last chance” to submit reply in the case involving the party’s amended constitution.

In this context, a five-member full bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) heard two cases involving the non-conduct of intra-party elections and the party’s amended constitution on Tuesday.

During the hearing, PkMAP’s Senior Vice President and defence counsel Advocate Aimal Mandokhail appeared before the bench in both the cases.

Presenting his arguments, the defence lawyer said that a two-member division bench of Balochistan High Court (BHC), comprising Justice Kamran Malakhail and Justice Najamuddin Mengal, heard the case regarding PKMAP’s amended constitution and reserved the verdict.

The bench also extended the stay in the PKMAP intra-party elections case, he said.

Heading the ECP bench, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja directed the defence counsel to read out the PkMAP’s petition filed before the ECP bench. Mandokhail replied that he did not have a copy of the relevant petition at the moment. He sought time to present the petition’s copy before the bench.

“It appears that PKMAP is not taking the matter seriously,” the CEC observed.

“Either you should have come prepared or you should not have appeared before this bench for today’s hearing,” the CEC told the defence lawyer.

The ECP bench would review the BHC’s order and proceed accordingly in the two cases, the CEC added.

The bench then gave the defence side the last chance to submit reply in the PKMAP amended constitution case, and adjourned the hearing till coming Tuesday (13 October).

Conspicuously, the ECP is hearing cases involving PKMAP at a time when Achakzai, the NA opposition leader and the PKMAP chief, who also heads the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (TTAP), is strongly supporting the long march launched by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) earlier on Sunday.

The TTAP is an alliance of opposition parties that includes PTI, PkMAP and other parties that have launched a joint struggle against the current federal government.

In total, three cases against PkMAP are pending with the ECP; the non-conduct of intra-party elections, the party’s constitution, and its financial accounts.

Last month, CEC Raja warned that the electoral body would issue a “unilateral” decision in two of the three cases related to PkMAP if the defence side failed to submit the related replies.

He made these remarks on 1 September while heading a five-member full ECP bench that heard all the three cases.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026