Level playing field: SC to hear PTI’s contempt plea against ECP – Pakistan

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will take up the PTI’s petition seeking initiation of contempt charges against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for alleged violation of its directives for a level playing field in the upcoming polls.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali, will commence the hearing shortly.

On Dec 22, the apex court had directed the ECP to attend to the PTI’s grievances urgently and resolve these expeditiously to ensure that the electoral process remains smooth, open, transparent, free and fair.

Let this exercise be completed by ECP promptly without disturbing the timelines given in the election programme because “voters must have faith in the electoral process for our democracy to succeed”, the order — issued on a PTI petition seeking a level playing field — had stated.

However, in a fresh application filed last week, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan sought the initiation of contempt proceedings against the electoral watchdog for non-compliance with the SC’s Dec 22 orders.

The ECP and the PTI have been in “bat blood” over the past few months after the commission stripped the party of its symbol. While the decision was later suspended by the Peshawar High Court, the PTI alleged conspiracies were being hatched to snatch its iconic electoral symbol and exclude it from the Feb 8 general elections.

Moreover, the top leadership of the party and its allies have also been knocked out of the polls race, as almost “90 per cent of nominations from important leaders” failed to stand the scrutiny exercise. They have now decided to challenge the rejections.

On Monday, PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen had appeared before the SC to request early fixing of the level playing field case but was told to wait till the tea break. He was later told that the hearing had been fixed.

The petition