ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Awami Muslim League (AML) on Friday challenged the appointment of Mohsin Raza Naqvi as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab in the Supreme Court.

The PTI and AML Chief Sheikh Rasheed on Friday filed separate petitions, praying that Mohsin Naqvi be restrained from performing any function regarding the elections and appointing cabinet members. The Election Commission of Pakistan on January 22 appointed Naqvi as caretaker chief minister for a 90-day interim period. His name was agreed upon in an ECP meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja and attended by four members of the commission, besides the ECP secretary and special secretary and ECP director general, law.

Advocate Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqui, who filed a petition on behalf of the PTI and Asad Umar, contended that an individual without any experience of political, constitutional, bureaucratic setups has been selected/ appointed for this position for reasons, which are not available or discernible.

He argued that Naqvi’s appointment by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was “in direct violation of the provisions of the Constitution read with the provisions of the Elections Act 2017 and the Election Rules 2017”.

The party asked for the ECP to be declared “‘en masse’ biased and in violation of the code of conduct prescribed under Article 209 of the Constitution” (Supreme Judicial Council), claiming that it had abused constitutional and statutory powers. The petition also asked for the appointment of Babar Hassan Bharwana and Justice (retired) Ikramullah Khan as ECP members to be declared in violation of the Constitution, and be struck down.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023