PTI could not hold intra-party elections despite taking a year: CJP

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has resumed hearing the Sunni Ittehad Council’s petition seeking the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) verdict upholding the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision denying them the reserved seats.

A full-court SC bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa is hearing the case.

The bench comprises Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Jamal Khan MandokhailJustice Malik, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan.

On June 27 during the last hearing, Justice Minallah had remarked that the ECP lacked the power to kick out any party from the elections.

Meanwhile, the Chief Justice had asked the ECP why the court shouldn’t consider  the candidates as belonging to the PTI.

During the hearing today, Election Commission lawyer Sikander Bashir argued that under the Election Act, the party affiliation certificate and Form 66 are on record. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf issued the party affiliation certificate and Form 66, which were signed by Chairman Gohar Ali Khan.

He continued that affiliation certificate and Form 66 were issued but PTI did not conduct intra-party elections. PTI issued Form 66 on December 22 and party affiliation certificate on January 13 and it should have attached the party affiliation certificate with the nomination papers.

Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa remarked that the matter of PTI intra-party elections had been coming up for many years. The party was repeatedly asking for time for intra-party elections, as a prime minister, he requested to give a year for intra-party elections. It is a fact that PTI could not hold intra-party elections despite taking a year, he added.