IHC stays ECP order amending Islamabad Election Tribunal

KARACHI:

The Islamabad High Court (IC) on Monday stayed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) order amending the Islamabad Election Tribunal and reinstated the tribunal comprising Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri.

The court was hearing the PTI’s petition against the ongoing proceedings related to the Election Amendment Ordinance and the change of tribunal in the ECP.

Chief Justice Aamer Farooq presided over the case and issued a contempt of court notice to PML-N Member of National Assembly (MNA) Anjum Aqeel Khan.

IHC CJ asked the Assistant Attorney General (AAG) how he would defend this order and also enquired about the urgency under which the order was issued overnight.

Justice Aamer remarked, “Abolish Parliament and run the government through ordinances. You have set up an arms factory, one is the Wah factory and the other is an arms factory. The Wah factory makes arms and you are making ordinances. What bias against the judge has the Election Commission found?”

The court further asked whether Anjum Aqeelv had requested the ECP to amend the tribunal. CJ Farooq remarked, “Please explain to me what is written there, what do these words mean, what is prejudice?”

Anjum apologized to the judge and said, “I admit that my English is not good, this is a legal language. I signed that the judges are respectful to us, this is my mistake, I signed without reading these words. I have submitted a request for the transfer of the case.”

The judge remarked to Anjum: “You did not accept your recommendation. Is that why you wanted to change it?”

“I didn’t recommend it,” Anjum replied.

CJ Aamer told Anjum that his petition was about the bias of the judge. “You are a parliamentarian, you have to make laws, why have you accused the judge?” added Aamer Farooq.

Anjum replied that it was a mistake in his choice of words and not intentional.

Following these observations, the IHC stayed the ECP’s order amending the Islamabad Election Tribunal and reinstated the tribunal comprising Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri.

The court issued a contempt notice to Anjum Aqeel and adjourned the hearing to July 9.

In the last hearing, CJ Farooq also expressed his anger over the change in the election court in Islamabad.

Justice Aamer inquired: “Why was the tribunal changed? The government explained to me that this change was abolished years ago and now they have introduced it through an ordinance. How can the sitting president issue an ordinance? What was the emergency that made the ordinance come overnight? Let the system remain a system.”

Shaheen stated that he would challenge the ECP’s decision and requested the court to restore the seats on the basis of the application pending before the court and the previous state of affairs.

The Chief Justice remarked, “The tribunals were constituted after consultation with me. I suggested the names and you gave your consent. Then why was there a need to change the judges of the tribunal? Requests for change of judges also come to us. We do not ask for any documents and you have to give an account. We respect that the ECP is a constitutional body. That is why we have given two days.”

ECP’s lawyer responded that the notice was sent on June 7 and is not currently in his possession.

IHC CJ questioned the ECP counsel as to how the electronic media would have come to know about the constitution of a new Tribunal if no notification had been given.

“You are doing something wrong, don’t do that, give a reasonable answer. Think about what you have to do because the transfer orders you issued are not legally defensible,” he added.

The election supervisory authority had previously granted all three requests of the PML-N MP to change the tribunal in Islamabad and ordered the relocation of the tribunal.

The ECP had also rejected the PTI’s request to postpone a hearing before the Election Tribunal initiated by the ruling party’s MPs on complaints of alleged voter fraud in the February 8 elections.

The PML-N MP’s lawyer reiterated that the election tribunal cannot give any instructions to the ECP.

He expressed concern that the court did not give them sufficient time and that the matter was rushed.

PTI’s Shoaib Shaheen told the court that the party had challenged the ECP’s action against the election tribunal before the IHC. “It is possible that we may get a stay order. Please give us time till Monday,” he requested.

After both the PML-N and PTI-backed candidates had presented their arguments for two days, the ECP reserved its decision for Friday.

PML-N MPs, including Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, had expressed their distrust of the election tribunal headed by Judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri.

However, PTI lawyers Shoaib Shaheen, Aamir Mughal and Ali Bukhari had demanded that the PML-N leaders’ petitions be dismissed.