RO suspension: ECP challenges PHC order in SC

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday field an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Peshawar High Court (PHC) order, suspending its order about appointment of Irfanullah as a returning officer (RO) for the provincial assembly constituency of PK-91 Kohat II, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The electoral body filed through its counsel Afnan Karim Kundi Advocate the leave to appeal under Article 185(3) of the Constitution against an order, passed by the PHC on Dec 27, in petitions, filed by a contestant of the constituency, raising objections on the returning officer’s appointment.

The petitioners assailed before the PHC the notification dated December 25, 2023 whereby the ECP substituted the returning officer for the constituency of KP-91, Kohat II.

The court, while issuing notice to the ECP, suspended the aforesaid notification of the electoral body.

In its appeal, the ECP questioned as to whether the impugned order of high court amounted to interfering with the constitutional and statutory public duties of the ECP with regard to appointment of ROs under Article 218(3), read with Section 51 of the Elections Act 2017, and as such no interim relief could be granted by the way of suspension of the ECP notification dated December 25, 2023, substituting the RO?

Whether the jurisdiction of courts is not barred under Section 236 of the Elections Act, 2017, the ECP questioned, adding as to whether the impugned order of the high court was liable to be set aside as it amounted to derailing the election process.

The ECP questioned as to whether the high court could suspend the ECP notification without first issuing notice to the ECP and without affording an opportunity to explain that there in fact existed a valid reason for substitution of the earlier notified returning officer with another official which was on medical grounds.

The ECP submitted that the candidates for an election did not have a vested right in their nomination papers scrutinised by a particular returning officer, furnishing them locus standi to invoke writ jurisdiction of the high court in that regard.

The electoral body contended that the high court should not have passed the impugned order in a writ petition that was filed in sheer conjuncture failing to allege any particular prejudice caused to the petitioners by the substitution of earlier RO.

The ECP prayed to the apex court that leave to appeal might be granted to it from the impugned order passed by the high court on December 27, 2023 in the petition in the best interest of justice.

The electoral body further prayed that the matter may be fixed for hearing on Friday (today) in the best interest of justice.

The PHC, in petitions, filed by Dawood Shah and Imtiaz Shahid Qurashi, the aspiring candidates for the said constituency KP-91 Kohat, had held that RO Muhammad Usman Ashraf, assistant commissioner, (Headquarters) Kohat had been substituted with Irfanullah, Senior Assistant Director, Local Government and Rural Development, Kohat by the respondents, the ECP and others in violation of its own order dated December 13, 2023 through which ban on posting and transfer of district returning officers, returning officers for General Election 2024 had been imposed.

The high court held that the points raised needed elaborate consideration, hence notice be issued to respondents No 1 and 2 for January 4, 2024 to submit their para-wise comments.

In the meanwhile, the court had suspended the impugned order of ECP dated December 25, 2023. whereby the ECP had substituted the returning officer for the said constituency.