The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday reserved its verdict on the maintainability of a petition seeking the removal of Imran Khan as the PTI chief after his disqualification in the Toshakhana reference.
Justice Muhammad Sajid Mehmood Sethi presided over the hearing to decide whether the plea was admissible for further proceedings.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had disqualified Imran in the reference on October 21 under Article 63(1)(p). Subsequently, on Oct 24, the ECP had de-notified him as MNA from NA-95 with “immediate effect”.
The petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was submitted by Advocate Mohammad Afaq and named Imran, the ECP, the federation and government of Pakistan, and others as respondents.
The plea argued that according to the Representation of the People Act 1976 and Political Parties Order (PPO) 2002 it was a legal and constitutional requirement for party officeholders to be qualified in accordance with Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.
The petition said that after Imran’s disqualification from the NA-95 constituency it was “just” for him to be denotified as the PTI chairman and an order should be issued to this effect.
He contended that a disqualified person could not head a political party under the Political Parties Order and its rules.
He argued that Imran is violating the laws by continuing to head the PTI, which was a registered party with the ECP.
The lawyer requested the court to order the ECP to remove Imran as PTI chairman and issue directives for the nomination of a new party head.
