ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court
(IHC) Monday rejected the
request of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to suspend
the decision of the Election
Commission of Pakistan
(ECP) regarding his disqualification. However, the court
stopped the by-polls on a
seat of NA-95 (Mianwali)
which fell vacant after disqualification of Imran Khan
in Toshakhana reference.
Justice Aamer Farooq of
IHC heard the case filed by
PTI chief and disposed his
petition challenging the
verdict of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in
Toshakhana case. At the outset of hearing, Justice Aamer
Farooq inquired that if the
petitioner had submitted an
application to file some extra
documents. Imran’s lawyer
Barrister Ali Zafar said that
they had requested the permission for submission of
ECP’s notification regarding
de-seating of his client.
The court questioned that
whether this reference was
sent by the National Assembly Speaker. To this point, Ali
Zafar answered in yes and
said that the ECP had given
its findings on the reference.
The lawyer said that every
member of the Parliament
was bound to submit the assets details to the ECP on
June 30. Non submission of
details within 120 days or
submitting wrong information would be declared as
corrupt practice, he said.
He said that the punishment for submitting the false
statement or information was
three year imprisonment sentence with fine. There was no
punishment of disqualification as per law, he added. The
lawyer prayed the court to
suspend the decision of ECP
regarding the disqualification
of Imran Khan. Justice Farooq
remarked that the court was
not suspending the decision
of ECP, however, it was stopping the by-polls in Mianwali
constituency. The court also
served notices to respondents including ECP in the
case and sought comments. It
may be mentioned here that
the ECP had disqualified Imran Khan for not declaring the
information with regard to
Toshakhana gifts. After hearing the arguments, the IHC
bench issued notices to the
Secretary ECP, Speaker National Assembly and others.
It added, “Meanwhile, the
Election Commission of Pakistan is restrained from announcing the election schedule of NA-95 Mianwali-I.”
Through the instant petition,
the petitioner assailed the order dated 21.10.2022 passed
by respondent No.1 (ECP)
whereby the petitioner has
been disqualified under Article 63 (1) (p) of the Constitution read with sections 137,
167 and 173 of the Election
Act, 2017 from the constituency of NA-95, Mianwali-1.
During the hearing, Khan’s
counsel contended that the
ECP transgressed its jurisdiction. In this regard, He also
contended that originally
the reference was made under Article 62 (1) (f) of the
Constitution, however, while
answering the question referred to it, the same was
treated as one under Article
63 of the Constitution.
He submitted that Article
63 (1) (p) of the Constitution
has been invoked which provides for disqualification of a
Member of National Assembly for the time being under
any law (in the instant case
sections 137, 167 and 173 of
the Elections Act, 2017)