ECP seeks early hearing against ruling on KP LG polls

IHC suspends ECP’s decision, allows Gandapur to contest for mayor office

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking an early hearing of the petition against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC’s) ruling postponing the second phase of the local government election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) that were scheduled for March 27.

On February 4, the PHC Abbottabad bench had postponed the next phase of the LG elections, a decision that was welcomed by the Hazara Province Movement, which vowed to field candidates from every district and village council of the Hazara Division, including Battagram, Allai and Torghar.

The high court had directed the electoral body to hold the elections after Ramazan, keeping in view the harsh weather forecast next month.

The court had also suspended the ECP notification dated January 20, 2022, regarding holding the second phase of the local body polls in 18 districts of KP on March 27, 2022.

However, in the appeal, the ECP maintained that the hearing of the petition against the PHC’s decision should be fixed soon.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday suspended the decision of the ECP, disqualifying Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (candidate) Umar Amin Khan Gandapur for mayor elections in Dera Ismail Khan.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah suspended the ECP’s decision during the hearing in a petition filed by Gandapur.

A day earlier, the commission had disqualified Umar from running for mayor for flouting the code of conduct of the upcoming local government polls. It also barred Ali Amin from addressing any gathering or taking part in any political activity in the district.

Subsequently, Umar filed a petition in the high court against the decision which contended that ECP failed to meet the requirements of transparency.

Separately, the Supreme Court on Tuesday maintained the ECP’s verdict regarding re-election at five polling stations of Lakki Marwat tehsil.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed heard the case.

During the course of proceedings, the top court expressed annoyance over ECP’s failure to formulate rules for hearing cases.

The bench observed that decades had passed since the Election Commission got quasi-judicial powers and failure to make rules even after many years was a clear failure of the ECP.