Editor
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Barrister Salman Akram Raja on Sunday claimed that ‘many bridges’ would collapse if Punjab election tribunals, nominated by Lahore Excessive Court docket (LHC) chief justice, hear the electoral disputes.
Addressing a presser right here, the PTI chief — who had misplaced his election from NA-128 Lahore — criticised the Election Fee of Pakistan (ECP) for making an attempt to alter Punjab election tribunals.
“The individuals of Pakistan can not overlook the February 8 normal elections, whereby the worst rigging passed off,” he alleged.
Raja claimed that the election tribunals in Punjab, appointed by the LHC chief justice, weren’t allowed to perform. Nonetheless, he famous, election tribunals in different provinces functioned as per the listing offered by the respective chief justices.
“They [the government] concern essentially the most in Punjab,” he mentioned, claiming that ‘many bridges’ will collapse if the tribunals — appointed by the LHC chief justice — hear the disputes.
Furthermore, the PTI chief mentioned, the one who creates variations between the establishments and other people is ‘Pakistan’s enemy’.
For her half, PTI chief Meher Bano Qureshi — who additionally misplaced the Multan NA-151 seat — mentioned that the democracy’s power lies in ladies’s illustration, regretting that solely three ladies leaders have been representing the social gathering in Parliament.
It’s pertinent to say right here that Salman Akram Raja had filed a assessment petition with the Supreme Court docket of Pakistan, searching for to make purposeful the Election Tribunal in Punjab.
A five-member bigger bench of the apex courtroom headed by the CJP would additionally take up the enchantment of the Election Fee of Pakistan (ECP) towards the LHC judgement, appointing eight election tribunals in Punjab for addressing elections disputes from the February 8 normal elections.
The opposite members of the bench embody Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi.
Beforehand, on July 4, the Supreme Court docket had suspended the LHC judgement and its notification relating to the appointment of eight election tribunals in Punjab. This suspension was in impact till the completion of consultations between the LHC chief justice and ECP.
On the opposite aspect, President Asif Ali Zardari — on July 9 — accepted the Election (Modification) Invoice 2024, empowering the electoral watchdog to nominate retired judges of excessive courts to election tribunals.
Beneath the modification to the Elections Act, 2017, the ECP wouldn’t want session with the respective chief justices for the appointment of retired judges as election tribunals.
