A bench of three members of the High Court of Lahore, led by chief judge Aalia Neelum, suspended the Pakistan Electoral Commission (ECP) for NA-175 on Wednesday after the disqualification of the Jamshed Dasti of PTI.
The petitioner had challenged his disqualification before the Mulan bench of the LHC. Due to the sensitivity of the question, the bench proposed the constitution of a wider bench and returned the case to the headquarters of the court.
Subsequently, the petitioner deposited an additional plea requesting an early hearing, attracting the attention of the court to the ECP anchored elections calendar. He argued that the delay in the hearing would be to deprive him of his legal right. The petitioner also argued that the funds were allocated to development projects, which would be wasted if ECP’s decision had then been canceled.
At the start of the procedure, the petitioner’s lawyer argued that the PCE does not have the power to disqualify a candidate without declaration from the court. He argued that the ECP had violated the disqualification procedure of its client.
Lawyer Ishtiaq Chaudhry informed the court that the case came from the requests received by the president of the National Assembly, who then sent a reference to the ECP. He cited a judgment of the Supreme Court indicating that the ECP cannot disqualify a person without a legal declaration and said that the procedure had not been followed in the case of Dasti.
Following the arguments, the bench suspended the calendar of ECP’s by -elections and issued an opinion to the ECP to submit its response.
Addressing journalists afterwards, Jamshed Dasti said he was punished for being standing with Imran Khan. He expressed his optimism in the judiciary and hoped that justice would be done.
