Islamabad LG polls: IHC to hears ECP, PTI petitions next week

• IHC will hear the petitions next week
• ECP, PTI filed separate petitions against the polls
• ECP was unable to conduct polling in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear petitions filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the Local Government elections in Islamabad next week.

The ECP had filed an intra-court appeal against the decision to conduct the local bodies elections on Saturday after it expressed its inability to conduct the polls.  The PTI filed a petition seeking contempt of court proceedings against the ECP for not holding the polls.

The electoral body had requested an immediate hearing on an intra-court appeal filed in the high court. However, the IHC registrar’s office raised an objection over the appeal due to missing documents.

The objections were removed by the ECP’s legal team and the appeal petition was submitted. The federal government also challenged the IHC’s order through a separate intra-court appeal.

The government sought an emergency hearing of the petition but none of them was scheduled.  The cases were not marked by the court’s staff, and benches for hearing the pleas will be formed next week on January 2, 2023.

Islamabad High Court has released the schedule of the roster for next week. There are 2 two-member bench and four single member benches for hearing next week.

The two-member bench comprises of IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Saman Raffat. The second bench includes Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Babar Sattar. The bench will be available from Monday to Thursday.

The PTI filed contempt of court plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for not conducting the polls.

PTI leader Ali Nawaz Awan filed an application requesting to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the election commission for “deliberately disobeying the unequivocal and unambiguous directions” of the court.

Chief Election Commissioner, ECP members, Interior Secretary and Cabinet Secretary have been made respondents in the petition.

The petitioner urged the court to convict and sentence those responsible in an “exemplary manner, in the interest of justice to maintain the sanctity of the judgments and orders” of the court.

The IHC ordered to hold local government (LG) elections in the federal capital today. The ECP held an emergency and expressed its inability to conduct the polls within such a short span.

Many voters turned up to cast their votes but the polling stations were deserted as election staff was not present. PTI leaders expressed displeasure over the closed polling stations and demanded action against the election commission for failing to implement the court’s orders.

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