Constitutional bench fixes PTI's rigging, May 9 pleas for hearing

ISLAMABAD: The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court has fixed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) petitions for hearing, seeking a probe into alleged rigging in the February 8 general elections and formation of judicial commission on May 9 riots.

A seven-member bench, headed by Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan, will hear PTI founder Imran Khan’s plea against election rigging on December 11.

Meanwhile, the constitutional bench will take up the second petition on December 10, which also seeks “annulment of civilians trial in military courts”.

The constitutional bench will comprise Justice Amin-Ud-Din, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan.

The incarcerated PTI founder had moved the Supreme Court in March 2024, requesting the formation of a judicial commission to “inquire, audit and examine” the manner and process of the February 8 general elections held in the country.

The petition, filed by senior lawyer Hamid Khan on behalf of the PTI founder, urged that the apex court form of a judicial commission — consisting of serving SC judges holding no bias towards anyone — to “inquire, audit and examine the manner and process of general elections of 8 February 2024 and the developments that took place thereafter of compiling false and fraudulent results rendering winners into losers and losers into winners”.

The PTI-backed independent candidates won the most National Assembly seats in the February 8 elections followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

However, the PML-N with the support of the other parties including the PPP formed a coalition government in the Centre and later became the single largest party in the lower house of the parliament following the allocation of the reserved seats.

Meanwhile, the former prime minister — in another petition — prayed the apex court to appoint a judicial commission to probe into the “horrendous and terrible incidents of May 9-10 and actions leading to those unfortunate incidents, which caused loss of precious human lives of dozens of persons and damage to the state and private property.”

In the petition, he also submitted that the arrests, investigation and trial of civilians in peacetime under the Army Act 1952, read with the Official Secret Act 1923, is unconstitutional and void and of no legal effect and amounts to negation of the Constitution, rule of law and independence of judiciary.