A three-member bench of the apex court led by CJP Isa and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarat Hilali took up the plea.
SC not to interfere in ECP’s domain, observes CJP. Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa has observed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is a constitutional body and no one can interfere in its domain.
“Supreme Court will not interfere in the domain of the Election Commission of Pakistan. However, if ECP commits any unconstitutional act then the court can look into it,” the top judge added.
The CJP passed these remarks during a hearing of a ECP’s petition against the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict restoring the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) electoral symbol — bat.
A three-member bench of the apex court led by CJP Isa and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarat Hilali took up the plea.
During today’s hearing, Hamid Khan appeared as the PTI counsel while Makhdoom Ali Khan was present as the ECP lawyer.
The proceedings of the case are being broadcast live on the SC website and YouTube channel.
Responding to PTI counsel Hamid Khan’s arguments, Justice Isa noted that there was a “very clear line of demarcation” between the functions of a constitutional and a statutory body.
He remarked, “If they’re (ECP) doing their job, we won’t take over their job [or] how to do it [or] how better to do it.”
At the outset of the hearing, the ECP counsel came to the rostrum. When CJP Isa asked Makhdoom whether the PHC’s written order had been issued or not, the latter replied that it had not been.
The lawyer then read out the PHC order that restored the PTI’s ‘bat’ symbol. He said that the ECP had not yet received “any notice” of the PHC order, to which the chief justice said, “I have not read the case file either.”
The top judge asked Makhdoom when he would be ready to present the case, at which the counsel urged the SC to adjourn the hearing till Monday. Makhdoom further said that the political parties would be allotted electoral symbols tomorrow.
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Makhdoom recalled that the PTI was supposed to hold its intra-party polls in 2022 and that the electoral watchdog issued a notice to the PTI for not holding the intra-party polls according to its party constitution.
Here, the CJP observed that to adjourn the hearing till Monday, the PHC’s recent verdict would have to be suspended, adding that the apex court was ready to hear the case on Saturday and Sunday as well. The ECP lawyer then sought time till tomorrow to prepare for the case.
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