PHC dismisses writ for elections under judiciary

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday dismissed a writ petition which had sought February 8 general elections under the supervision of the judiciary.

The writ was filed by a senior lawyer Moazzam Butt, who is also a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader.

A special bench consisting of PHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Khan and Justice Shakil Ahmed had heard the petition and reserved the verdict on December 18 last month.

Reading out the 22-page verdict, which had been reserved earlier, Justice Shakil Ahmad said the Supreme Court had already taken notice of the issue by suspending the verdict of the Lahore High Court and the case was pending with the apex court. “Thus, the writ cannot be heard by the court and hence is dismissed,” read the verdict.

The court at the last hearing had taken stock of the arguments from both sides in detail.

The petitioner had put under question the impartiality of the ECP. He had said the electoral body was silent over the actions being taken against the PTI candidates. He had contended that the appointment of returning officers and district returning officers was based on ill will as hundreds of MPO 3 were issued by the same DROs as deputy commissioners.