SC wants to strengthen ECP: CJP

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Umer Ata Bandial stated on Thursday that the court wishes to empower and strengthen the Election Commission of Pakistan, which specialises in election administration.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ayesha A Malik, heard the appeal of PTI leader Faisal Vawda, challenging his life-time disqualification.

During the course of hearing on Thursday, the counsel for Vawda, Waseem Sajjad, while arguing before the court, again questioned the jurisdiction of the election commission, saying that it was not competent to issue a declaration disqualifying a member of parliament for life.

The chief justice, however, said that it was the domain of the Election Commission of Pakistan to look into the election matters. The chief justice again told the counsel that the learned Islamabad High Court had upheld the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding his client’s lifetime disqualification.

“It means that the court of law issued the verdict after examining the available facts on record,” the CJP said. Waseem Sajjad said the question taken up with the learned high court was regarding the jurisdiction of Election Commission of Pakistan.

The counsel for Vawda said that the high court did not give a decision on the jurisdiction of ECP and also did not examine the facts. The chief justice said that the learned high court had referred the matter to the ECP for examining the facts and determining the matter.

Waseem Sajjad said the ECP could not become a court when a case was referred to it by a high court, adding that it did not examine the facts and determine the matter in the right direction.

The counsel for the PTI leader further submitted that the petitioner was not provided with an opportunity to cross examine the personnel of US Embassy. But it is an established fact that the petitioner had approached the embassy to renounce his US citizenship after filing the nomination papers for election, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, another member of the bench, said.

Waseem Sajjad said that his client had resigned from the National Assembly membership while objections were raised to his nomination papers for contesting the Upper House of Parliament (Senate). Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing for October 19 due to shortage of time.