Imran’s disqualification: Mystery shrouds delay in issuance of signed verdict

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) could not issue the signed and verified detailed verdict of the Toshakhana reference against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Sunday for the third consecutive day, further deepening the mystery surrounding the delay.

Questions are being raised over the continuous delay in the issuance of the verdict, which is reportedly being put on hold due to the ailment of one of the ECP members, who has not signed the order.

PTI secretary-general Asad Umar and other senior leaders Fawad Chaudhry, Barrister Ali Zafar and Imran Ismail had earlier questioned the delay in issuance of the signed and verified detailed verdict of the ECP on the Toshakhana reference against the former premier.

“Why is the ECP sitting on the written order? What is being cooked now?” Asad Umar questioned in a tweet.

Imran Ismail in his tweet alleged: “The campaign launched by PDM’s allied body ECP is shameful—something is seriously wrong that’s why there is prolonged delay in the issuance of verdict—this is total dishonesty—the chief election commissioner is waiting for the verdict to be written from London or Bilawal House—the nation rejects these decisions altogether,”.

“I wonder why ECP is not issuing the detailed order. My understanding is that one member has not signed it yet. If so, how can an incomplete body announce an order? This in itself amounts to patent illegality,” tweeted PTI senator and Imran’s counsel in Toshakhana case Barrister Ali Zafar on Friday.

On delay in the signed Toshakhana case verdict, the ECP officials have reportedly informed the media that ECP member from Punjab Babar Hassan Bharwana was suffering from dengue and could not sign the verdict due to his poor health.

Bharwana had to be hospitalized and was unable to carry out his official responsibilities on Friday, the officials said, adding that he was reported to be ill on Saturday, as well.

The officials have denied that there is “anything else” contributing to delay in the issuance of the verdict.

However, the ECP sources on Sunday maintained that the ECP member from Punjab has also signed the detailed verdict, which is expected to be issued today (Monday). They added that a special team of the Commission visited Bharwana at his native town, Jhang and get his signature on the verdict. They said that both Bharwana and his wife are suffering from dengue.

On Sunday, a spokesperson of the ECP once again made it clear that the Toshakhana verdict was a unanimous decision of the Chief Election Commissioner and the four ECP members.

In a statement, the ECP spokesperson also clarified that all the news on the social media related to the ECP member from Punjab are fake and that the member has no social media account.

“A fake social media account in the name of Babar Hassan Bharwana, ECP member from, has been created. Various kinds of statements, attributed to him, are being posted through the fake account. The ECP spokesperson, on behalf of member Punjab, strongly contradicts any such statements,” the statement of the ECP added.

Moreover, it further added that the ECP member from Punjab does not have any account on any social media forum.

Only two pages of the verdict, that is believed to be of 36 pages, were provided to the media by the ECP on Friday when the verdict was announced.

The extracts obtained from these two pages mainly suggest that Khan has been disqualified from his parliamentary members under Article 63(1) (p) of the constitution for filing “false” and “incorrect” statement of assets and liabilities with the ECP for the year 2020-21.

The ECP’s five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi, Babar Bharwana and Justice Ikramullah Khan (Retried) heard this case and authored the verdict. Barring Bharwana, all the other four electoral officials have signed the verdict.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022