PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday adjourned hearing into three petitions against the notices issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan to the PTI leaders, including former governor Shah Farman, former chief minister Mahmood Khan and former ministers Anwer Zeb and Muhibullah, for “violating” the revised code of conduct for local body elections last year.

The adjournment came from a bench consisting of Justice Abdul Shakoor Khan and Justice Syed Arshad Ali at the request of the counsel for the ECP.

Lawyer Mohsin Kamran Siddique said he required time to prepare case files as the recent arson attacks on the ECP’s regional office here destroyed records.

One petition was jointly filed by the then chief minister, Mahmood Khan, and the then provincial minister, Anwer Zeb, while the others were separately filed by the then provincial governor, Shah Farman, and the then provincial minister, Muhibullah.

Farman, Mahmood, two ex-ministers accused of violating poll code last year

All four petitioners challenged the revised code of conduct issued by the ECP on March 10, 2022, barring public officeholders from campaigning in the second phase of local body elections in 18 districts of the province last year.

They also objected to the notices issued to them by the respective district monitoring officer (DMO) as well as the Rs50,000 fine imposed on them.

The DMO had issued notices to three petitioners, including Shah Farman, Mahmood Khan and Anwer Zeb, along with the then prime minister and PTI chairman, Imran Khan, on March 11, 2022, for attending a public meeting in Lower Dir district in violation of the election code. He also fined them Rs50,000 each.

Similarly, the DMO in Swat district put Muhibullah on notice on March 16, 2022, for attending a public meeting. The then minister was later fined Rs50,000.

Last year the high court had issued stay orders in favour of the petitioners and directed the ECP not to take any adverse action against the petitioners.

Ali Gohar Durrani, lawyer for the petitioners, contended that the ECP had overstepped its constitutional authority by issuing the revised code of conduct following the promulgation of an ordinance, which made changes to the Elections Act, 2017.

He said the KP governor enjoyed constitutional immunity from any criminal and civil proceedings against him but despite that he was issued notice by the DMO.

The lawyer requested the court to declare that neither the ECP nor its DMO was empowered to seek the governor’s appearance before them through notices under the immunity guaranteed to him under Constitution as well as in light of the amendments made to the Elections Act, 2017, through an ordinance of 2022.

He argued that Section 233 of the Election Act, 2017, provided for the code of conduct for political parties, contesting candidates, security forces, media, etc, while Section 234 was related to the monitoring of election campaigns.

The counsel contended that while parliament was not in session, the president of Pakistan had promulgated the Elections (Amendment) Ordinance (Ordinance I of 2022) on Feb 21.

He said through that ordinance, Section 181-A was inserted into the Elections Act, 2017.

The lawyer added that the amendment allowed MNAs, MPAs and other elected representatives of the people to visit or address public meetings in any area or constituency.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2023