ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that not only democracy should be in the country, but also in the political parties, and the basic issue is the elections.

He said that, while heading a three-member bench, which also comprised Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali, on Friday, which heard an appeal of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the Peshawar High Court (PHC)’s decision to restore “cricket bat” as the PTI’s electoral symbol.

The chief justice said according to Article 17 of the Constitution every citizen not only has the right to take part in political activity, but also to form a political party, and to participate in the elections. He inquired from the ECP’s counsel whether its treatment is the same with all political parties or only with the PTI. Justice Mazhar questioned whether the ECP has also checked the intra-party elections of other parties as well.

PHC directs ECP to hand PTI back its bat symbol

Justice Faez also said that when the PTI was in power the ECP had shown restraint to take action against it. He noted that nine years have passed and still the ECP took no action against the TLP in the foreign funding case.

Makhdoom Ali Khan, representing ECP, said that an individual conducted the intra-party election of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) instead of the seven members of the PTI’s election board, which according to the party’s constitution has the mandate to hold the polls. He said that the PTI leaders have not followed their own constitution.

The chief justice asked Makhdoom, are you trying to say that the PTI’s chairman election commission (CEC) was appointed by Omar Ayub, who had no power to elect the CEC, because Asad Umar has not quit PTI yet, and Omar Ayub became the general secretary of PTI in December 2023.

Makhdoom submitted that it is also not clear how many members of the PTI had cast vote in the intra-party election, and all the office-bearers of the PTI were elected unopposed. He also asked Makhdoom, was it his view that the PTI has not allowed all its members to take part in the intra-party polls.

Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that PTI has 837,950 members and votes were cast through WhatsApp. Upon that, Justice Hilali said all the members do not have access to WhatsApp. She questioned why the PTI chose the venue Rano Ghari in Chamkani, near Peshawar, KP to hold the intra-party elections.

Makhdoom said that the PTI has not prayed before the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to declare that the intra-party elections were held in a free and fair manner. They (the PTI) have challenged the ECP’s authority and its jurisdiction to monitor its party elections. CJP Faez responding to Hamid Khan’s argument said the Court will not take over the responsibilities of the ECP. The PTI’s counsel contended that a “very clear line” of demarcation exists between the functions of a statutory body and of a constitutional body. “If they’re doing their job, we won’t take over their job [or] how to do it [or] how better to do it,” said the chief justice.

The PHC has dismissed the ECP’s order revoking the PTI’s electoral symbol “bat”, citing irregularities in the party’s internal polls. In its short order, the high court declared that the electoral body’s order was “illegal, without any lawful authority and of no legal effect”. The high court also instructed the ECP to publish the certificate submitted by the PTI after its internal polls on the commission’s website.

Makhdoom maintained that the PTI was supposed to hold the intra-party election in 2022 and the party had been issued a notice by the election commission for not holding the polls according to PTI’s constitution.

Justice Mazhar asked about the process for appointing the party’s chief election commissioner, to which, Makhdoom replied that Jamal Ansari was initially the CEC and now Niazullah Niaz replaced him. “The election commission is not just a quasi-judicial body. It is a constitutional body,” observed the CJP.

The chief justice noted that the ECP has two main functions; first, to regulate the affairs of political parties and the other function is to hold free and fair elections in the country. The hearing was adjourned until today (Saturday).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024