Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on Thursday filed a constitutional petition in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Dr Qadri has filed another petition seeking apex court orders for restraining the existing ECP from functioning.
In the petition, federation of Pakistan, the ECP, federal secretary for law and justice and parliamentary committee of National Assembly (NA) have been made respondents.
The petitioner took the plea that methodology of formation of ECP was enshrined in Article 218 of the constitution, while Article 213 of the constitution interpreted it.
Per constitution, the government and opposition would provide three names jointly for the selection of five members of ECP, including the chief election commissioner. The parliamentary committee (PC) would call them, conduct hearing and later one among the three would be confirmed by the committee.
The petition said the situation in the composition of the existing ECP was different. The government and opposition had appointed people of their own choice through a nexus and no hearing had been carried out per constitutional provision.
The appointed people have not even been called, therefore, the appointment of all members of ECP had been made in illegal and unconstitutional manner, the petition added.
“What has been done is wrong in the perspective of transparency of ECP and is an insult to the mandate of the people,” the petition stated.
The petitioner prayed the court to issue orders to the federal government and PC to appoint members of the ECP in line with Articles 213, 214, 215, 216 and 218.
Dr Qadri has also filed another petition under Supreme Court rules praying the court to provide immediate relief and restrain the ECP from conducting its function. Four institutions including federation of Pakistan have been made respondents in this petition.
It has been said in the second petition that the ECP be restrained from functioning until the case of reconstitution of ECP was decided so that transparency and fairness could be ensured in holding the upcoming general election.
Talking to reporters later, Dr Qadri said the issue related to the reconstitution of the ECP and would not lead to any postponement of elections and all matters could be settled within seven to 10 days.
“Election Commission which has come to existence in a deal between the government and opposition cannot come up to the expectations of people. The composition of the existing ECP is illegal and unconstitutional,” he remarked.
“We want the ECP constituted in a constitutional manner so that forthcoming general elections are held transparently. Several objectives were achieved from the sit-in staged by us. However, the differences persisted with the government and its allied parties on the issue of formation of ECP. We told them that we would go to the SC for the reconstitution of ECP. They (government) said that they would not create any hurdle if we approached the SC on this count,” he added.
