RAWALPINDI: The process of by-elections has been challenged in the Lahore High Court on the grounds that Election Commission of Pakistan is “unconstitutional”.
Justice Saghir Ahmed Qadri of Rawalpindi bench of the LHC will take up on Thursday a petition filed by Syed Nusrat Ali Shah who has questioned the role of the commission and the chief election commissioner (CEC) in holding by-elections.
The CEC, election commission’s secretary and returning officer for NA-68 (Sargodha-V) are respondents.
The petitioner through his lawyer Manzoor Hussain Malik said he wanted to contest the by-election in Sargodha to be held on August 5, but was reluctant to do so because the current commission was not constitutional and all its actions could subsequently be held unconstitutional.
Mr Shah said that under the amended Constitution, the CEC should be a retired judge of the Supreme Court and his selection should be made by a 12-member parliamentary committee from a list of three members to be proposed by the prime minister and the opposition leader.
“The incumbent chief election commissioner has not been appointed in accordance with the amendment,” he argued.
The petitioner, a former MNA from Sargodha, said that under the amended Article 218, the commission was to comprise four retired high court judges and every member should be selected in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 213.
Previously, the chief justice of a high court used to nominate a sitting judge as member of the commission and currently two judges were its members.
Under the amended Article 219, the petitioner said, all duties and functions of the CEC had been delegated to the ECP and elections for the Senate, national and provincial assemblies and local bodies could only be conducted by the ECP, and not the chief election commissioner.
“All elections conducted and being conducted by the current commission are unconstitutional and have no legal effect,” the petitioner argued.
The Sargodha seat fell vacant after Syed Javaid Hussain Shah of the PML-N had to resign over the fake degree issue.