The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) transferred the election petitions of three Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNAs on Monday after they expressed a lack of confidence in the current election tribunal and requested a transfer to another tribunal.
The ECP’s four-member bench, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, ruled in favor of PML-N’s Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Anjum Aqeel, and Raja Khurram Nawaz. The bench stated that the election tribunal, headed by Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), had exercised a jurisdiction not legally vested in him.
Three independent candidates backed by PTI—Shoaib Shaheen, Aamir Mughal, and Ali Bukhari—had challenged the election results for three National Assembly seats in the capital (NA-46, NA-47, and NA-48), alleging rigging in the February 8 results.
The ECP bench, in its judgments, noted that the tribunal had deviated from the prescribed legal procedure under the Act, 2017, and the Rules, 2017. The bench emphasized that when a party loses confidence in a trial court for genuine reasons, their request for relief must be considered to fulfill the ends of justice.
Furthermore, the ECP bench found that the PTI-backed candidates had filed their election petitions after the legally prescribed time. Under Section 142 of the ECP Act of 2017, election petitions must be filed within 45 days of the notification of the returned case. The bench ruled that the petitions were “hopelessly time-barred.”
In response to the PTI-backed candidates’ objection over the ECP’s jurisdiction, the bench clarified that Section 151 of the ECP Act, 2017, empowers the commission to transfer election petitions from one tribunal to another at any stage, either on its own motion or upon a party’s application. This power is “the exclusive domain of the Commission.”
The judgments also acknowledged the respect and regard for the presiding officer of the tribunal but pointed out “apparent illegalities and irregularities” in the tribunal’s proceedings. The bench stressed the importance of justice and removing any apprehensions in the petitioners’ minds. It noted that the tribunal had extended the petition filing period beyond the prescribed limit, which is not legally permissible.
The bench concluded that any election petition not complying with Sections 142, 143, or 144 of the Elections Act, 2017, must be summarily rejected as per Section 145(1) of the Act. The statutory time limitation prescribed under Section 142 could not be remedied in a slipshod manner, thereby protecting the legal rights of the other party.
