Daily Times

Sindh High Court (SHC), on Tuesday, summoned replies from the members of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Sindh and Balochistan in a petition filed against the ECP appointments from four provinces.

A bench of the SHC heard the petition filed by Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed against the ECP appointments in 2016; giving members of Sindh and Balochistan’s Election Commission time till May 21 to record their responses.

ECP’s law officer, Abdullah, argued before the court that the commission had already submitted its answer in this regard.

Advocate Safdar Ali also submitted his Wakalatnama of the Election Commission’s members of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

However, no member or representative of the Election Commission of Sindh and Balochistan was present in the hearing.

The court further directed the Sindh and Balochistan’s members of Election Commission to follow the notice.

The petitioner also stated that judges and retired government’s officers could not hold any government’s position for two years after their retirement.

He had added that Justice (R) Shakeel Ahmed had been appointed as a member of Balochistan Election Commission; Justice ®Irshad Qaiser for Peshawar Election Commission and Justice (R) Altaf Ibrahim for Lahore Election Commission.

Another retired official, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, was said to be appointed from Sindh despite facing charges of corruption.

The petitioner also pleaded the court to term the appointments of these officials null and void.