- IHC will hear the PTI appeal in Toshakhana case on December 8
- IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard PTI’s plea on the verdict appeal
- The ECP has disqualified Imran Khan for not declaring the sale of gifts
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear the appeal against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict in the Toshakhana case on December 8.
The court accepted the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) application for an early hearing of the appeal. IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard the plea of PTI seeking a hearing into the appeal on a daily basis.
The PTI had challenged the verdict of ECP in the Toshakhana scandal in which former prime minister Imran Khan had been disqualified. The PTI chief was accused of not declaring the sale of gifts received from the gift depository in his documents submitted to the election commission.
Previously, the IHC bench had observed that Imran Khan was only disqualified from his seat and has not been barred from contesting future elections following the ECP verdict in the Toshakhana reference.
The petition that he filed his statement of assets and liabilities for 2018, 2019 till 2021, and all assets or proceeds of sale in the shape of money were available on 30th June of each year and had always been declared by the petitioner before the ECP.
The PTI Chairman contended that if ECP had any objection to any statement of assets and liabilities or wanted any clarifications or additional details, it could an application within 120 days but never raised any query or objection.
He further contended that however the Speaker National Assembly without hearing the petitioner, and any evidence or document and contrary to the Constitution and the law filed a reference on August 5, 2022.
Imran maintained that all allegations were vehemently false and baseless and the burden to prove any concealment of course was on the movers of the reference and speaker. Imran Khan said he filed his reply in detail on 6 September 2022 before the ECP.
Imran argued that the impugned order of the ECP is “arbitrary, capricious, whimsical, based on no evidence, contrary to record and ultra vires the jurisdiction of the ECP; hence illegal and null and void’.
He urged the court to declare, find and hold that the impugned order dated 21 October 2022 is against the settled principles of law on Article 63 of the Constitution, misconceived and set it aside.
He requested the court to declare that the ECP could not have exercised the jurisdiction to decide any questions of ‘corrupt practice or disqualification’ under Section 137, Section 232 of the Election Act and further read with Rule 137 of Election Rules, 2017.
He also requested the court to declare that the reference itself is “incompetent, illegal, unlawful and without lawful authority, mala-fide and devoid of force and in the circumstance of the instant case declare it as null and void in the interest of justice”.
He urged the court to suspend the operation of the impugned order of the ECP and restrain further proceeding by ECP or its behest till final disposal of the petition.
