Imran Khan’s party decries changes in high court-appointed election tribunals in Punjab

ISLAMABAD: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party has accused Pakistan’s Election Commission of attempting to change election tribunals in Punjab province, appointed by the Lahore High Court chief justice to settle electoral disputes.

“The election tribunals in Punjab, appointed by the Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice, were not allowed to function. However, the election tribunals in other provinces functioned as per the list provided by the respective chief justices,” Barrister Salman Akram Raja, a leader of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said on Sunday.

Castigating the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Raja told a press conference that the people of Pakistan cannot forget the February 8 general elections, where “the worst rigging took place,” Geo News reported on Monday.

Khan and his party have maintained that the February 8 general elections witnessed the ‘Mother of All Rigging’ and called the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as “mandate thieves.”

In the election, both Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N and Bilawal Bhutto's PPP individually won fewer seats than 92 won by independent candidates backed by Khan’s PTI. The two parties, with four smaller other parties, stitched a post-poll alliance in a quid pro quo arrangement, denying the chance to Khan’s party to form a government.

Raja had filed a review petition with the Supreme Court of Pakistan seeking to make the Election Tribunals in Punjab functional.

A five-member larger bench of the apex court headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan would also take up the appeal of the ECP against the LHC judgement, appointing eight election tribunals in Punjab to address elections disputes from the February 8 general elections, the Geo News report said.

“They (the government) fear the most in Punjab,” Raja, who had lost his election from NA-128 Lahore, said and claimed that ‘many bridges’ will collapse if the tribunals — appointed by the LHC chief justice — hear the disputes.

The report said that the PTI leader said that the one who creates differences between the institutions and people is “Pakistan's enemy.”

Another PTI leader, Meher Bano Qureshi — who also lost the Multan NA-151 seat — said that the democracy's strength lies in women's representation, regretting that only three women leaders were representing the party in Parliament.

Previously, on July 4, the Supreme Court had suspended the LHC judgement and its notification regarding the appointment of eight election tribunals in Punjab. This suspension was in effect until the completion of consultations between the LHC chief justice and ECP.

On the other hand, President Asif Ali Zardari had on July 9 approved the Election (Amendment) Bill 2024 empowering the electoral watchdog to appoint retired judges of high courts to election tribunals.

Under the amendment to the Elections Act, 2017, the ECP would not need consultation with the respective chief justices for the appointment of retired judges as election tribunals.