LHC stops ECP from removing Imran Khan as party head

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday barred the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from proceedings to remove Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan as the party head following his disqualification from NA-95, Mianwali.

Justice Jawad Hassan issued the order on a petition of Imran Khan challenging a notice issued to him by the ECP.

Khan’s lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar and Azhar Siddique extended arguments that under the Federal Board of Revenue rules, Imran Khan had fully disclosed all his assets. The election commission did not have judicial powers and its job was only to conduct elections and not to disqualify anyone.

They pleaded that the cognizance and exercise of jurisdiction by the ECP for debarring Khan from holding the office of the party chairman on the basis of alleged incorrect statement of assets and subsequent disqualification was unlawful and contrary to the Constitution.

They submitted that the ECP issued the impugned notice to the petitioner on Dec 7, 2022 for removing him from the office of the party on the pretext of the disqualification was unlawful.

They argued that the entire scheme of the qualification and the disqualification under the Constitution and the Act had been misconstrued by the ECP and the precedent set by the Supreme Court in disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had been misapplied to the detriment of the petitioner.

They stated that no declaration of disqualification under article 62(1) (f) of the Constitution had been passed by any court of law against the petitioner.

“In fact the impugned findings of ECP are to the detriment of the entire scheme of parliamentary democracy which is not warranted in law and are liable to be set aside by the court,” they added.

They were of the view that the ECP cannot issue the impugned notice to the petitioner since it never made a declaration against him under the article 62(1) (f).

The petitioner asked the court to declare the impugned notice issued to the petitioner illegal and unconstitutional. He also urged the court to hold that the findings of the ECP against the petitioner of making false statements about his assets and liabilities and subsequent disqualification were unlawful and without lawful authority.

After hearing the initial arguments, Justice Jawad suspended the impugned notice issued by ECP and sought a reply from it on January 10.