ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday turned down PTI leader and MNA Ali Nawaz Awan’s petition challenging the victory of PPP leader and joint candidate of PDM Yousaf Raza Gillani in the Senate polls.
A singe bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah conducted hearing of the petition and dismissed the same after hearing the arguments.
The IHC also dismissed petitioner’s plea to disqualify Gillani’s son Haider Ali Gillani who is Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) of Punjab.
The court observed that admittedly, the notification of Gillani as a returned candidate has not been issued as yet and it is also not disputed that PTI as a political party, has challenged the election of Yousuf Raza Gillani before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). It added that the Elections Act, 2017 provides various adequate remedies, which are yet to be exhausted.
The counsel for the petitioner contended that no remedy is available under the Elections Act, 2017 to the petitioner. He argued that it is a settled law that when the law requires an act to be done in a particular manner, it ought to be done in that manner alone and not otherwise.
The petitioner contended that Gilani and his son are guilty of corrupt practices under section 167, 168, 169 and 170. Therefore, he prayed to the court to issue a writ of quo warranto requiring the ECP to respond under which law, Gillani has been allowed to submit his nomination papers.