From Abid Usman
LAHORE: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday issued a written order regarding the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) appeal against the establishment of eight election tribunals by the Lahore High Court (LHC).
In the order, the apex court stated that both the ECP and the office of the Chief Justice Lahore High Court (LHC) are constitutional institutions deserving of the highest respect. It emphasised that a face-to-face, meaningful consultation between these two bodies could resolve the issue.
The top court also noted that the attorney general also agreed on the need for meaningful consultation.
The court decided to keep the case pending without delving into its merits, considering it appropriate for the CJ of LHC and the ECP to engage in meaningful consultation.
The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) unanimously approved Justice Aalia Neelum’s elevation to the position of chief justice of the LHC on July 3.
The court further ordered the suspension of the Election Commission’s letter dated 26th April, the notification, and the Lahore High Court’s decisions dated 29th May and 12th June, until the next hearing.
It stressed the urgency of holding meaningful consultations as soon as the chief justice LHC takes oath, after which the case will be scheduled for hearing.
On July 4, the apex court suspended the decision of the LHC and the notification by the ECP concerning the establishment of election tribunals in Punjab.
Additionally, the court dismissed PTI leader Niazullah Niazi’s objection to the inclusion of Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa in the larger bench in the election tribunal case.
A five-member larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Isa, convened to hear the Election Commission’s appeal against the Lahore High Court’s decision on forming election tribunals.
The hearing, however, commenced with a heated exchange between CJ Isa and PTI lawyer Niazullah Niazi.
Niazi objected to the inclusion of the CJ in the bench, a motion swiftly dismissed by Chief Justice Isa.
Earlier, The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has recently ‘modified’ the results of at least 41 national and provincial assembly constituencies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by updating the Form 45s stored on its official Google Drive.
Although it is not clear what modifications have been made to the documents, the move has raised questions on the transparency of the electoral process, especially at a time when several disputes have been placed before election tribunals for adjudication.
The Form 45 constitutes a crucial record of the electoral process, as it contains key information about the polling station and number of ballots, and is signed by a presiding officer at each polling station.
The Form 47, meanwhile, is the provisional consolidated result, prepared by the respective returning officer. The modifications to the electoral data came seemingly on the back of a report by an NGO, Pattan-Coalition 38, which claimed that forms for over a dozen constituencies were not available on the ECP website. Released on July 3, this report was rejected by the Election Commission as being ‘baseless’. However, independent scrutiny of the officially uploaded data by Dawn revealed that the ECP’s claim was incorrect.
