Petitioners say GB CEC Justice (r) Tahir Ali Shah is closely associated with PML-N and that his appointment was made unilaterally by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has challenged the appointment of the Gilgit-Balistan chief election commissioner (CEC) in the Supreme Court, claiming he is an “unsuitable” person for the job given his close ties with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
With elections scheduled to be held around March 2015, PTI’s Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Ghulam Sarwar Khan, local leader Akbar Hussain Akbar and Wahdatul Muslimeen leader Raja Nasir Abbas have filed a petition through their counsel under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.
Newly-appointed Gilgit-Balistan CEC Justice (r) Tahir Ali Shah, the Federation of Pakistan, GB Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and the Gilgit-Balistan Council chairman through principal secretary to prime minister have been named as respondents in the petition.
The petitioners have requested the apex court to strike down the notification regarding the appointment of the GB CEC and direct the respondents to appoint a new CEC by involving all participating parties, especially the leader of the house and leader of the opposition in the GB legislative assembly.
The petitioners further stated that the person selected for the key post is unsuitable as he is an active member of the PML-N. They also attached five photographs with their petition to show the newly-appointed CEC has close association with the PML-N.
“Such a committed party worker of one of the parties participating in the elections cannot be expected to conduct elections in a free, fair, impartial and transparent manner,” the petitioners said.
The petition also stated that the affection, loyalty, goodwill of the entire population of Gilgit Balistan rests squarely on free and fair elections in the area.
“It would be most damaging internally and externally, nationally and internationally to conduct elections in that area, in any other manner or even for the election to appear to be absolutely, other than free, fair and impartial,” the petition stated.
Further, it states that in Pakistan, the appointment of the CEC is made through a consensus between the leader of House and the leader of the opposition.
In GB, the Pakistan People’s Party holds majority seats (21), followed by the PML-Q (3), while the PTI does not have any seat.
The petition objected that the appointment has been done arbitrarily and unilaterally by the prime minister, whose party holds two seats and the process of consultation that was required was not undertaken and none of the other stakeholders were taken on board.
