The Pakistan Supreme Court dismisses a request to annul the elections after the petitioner’s repeated absence

Islamabad: The Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed a plea on Wednesday that sought to declare the elections scheduled for February 8 invalid. The petitioner had been warned by the highest court, but had missed two sessions in a row. In order to guarantee justice, openness, and accountability, petitioner Ali Khan, a former Army officer, requested that the elections declared void and that fresh polls be held in less than 30 days.

The case was adjourned on Monday and was recommenced by a three-member bench presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa. But the Supreme Court rejected the request and fined Ali Rs 500,000 after noting that the petitioner had left the courtroom once again, Dawn said. The defense ministry had issued a notice to Ali’s home, and the police had also gone there, but he was not home, Additional Attorney General Amir Rehman said the SC.

The petition’s submission and subsequent withdrawal were characterized by the supreme court at the prior session as a kind of procedural abuse. Was the proposal submitted just for media attention? We cannot permit this. The court said, “We will not let the SC to be misused.

The plaintiff’s attorney announced the client’s want to withdraw the plea at the beginning of the hearing. Justice Isa responded, saying that the Supreme Court was too important to be fooled by such a joke. Bring the petitioner to court, wherever he may be from.” It further said that while the plea was submitted on February 12, news of it had been leaked to the public beforehand.

“A publicity gimmick”
Ali was a former brigadier who was discharged from duty in 2012 after a court martial trial, according to information provided to the court earlier today. The petitioner had submitted an email to the highest court requesting to withdraw his claim while he was overseas in Bahrain, which the chief judge read aloud. According to Justice Isa, he traveled via Doha, Qatar, on a connecting aircraft.

“He is an odd individual; most people purchase a return ticket since it is less expensive, but he purchased a one-way ticket. Before fining Ali, the CJP said, “It appears that Ali Khan filed a petition before the Supreme Court as a publicity stunt.”

In his appeal, Ali demanded that the Supreme Court undertake “a thorough and impartial investigation” into the purported election fraud, pre-poll manipulation, and misbehavior and punish those accountable who have threatened the country’s democratic underpinnings. According to his petition, there were flagrant transgressions of democratic values during the elections, such as the denial of equal opportunities to all political parties. In addition, he asked for the government petition to be put on hold until a decision was made.

In addition, Ali emphasized how the denial of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s electoral symbol and the detention of former prime minister Imran Khan on “fabricated charges” seriously compromised the democratic process. Despite the fact that the majority of PTI candidates were elected to the National Assembly, he said that the party faced many challenges and limitations, including pre-election manipulation.

Protests over suspected election manipulation in Balochistan, Sindh, and other regions of Pakistan have been prominent after the country’s general elections in 2024. Demanding recounts and contesting the results, political groups including the National Party, PPP, JUI, BAP, BNP-Mengal, PkMAP, and PkNAP held protest marches that blocked main thoroughfares and district returning offices.

Pakistan will form a coalition government.
Senior party officials have declared that after days of rigorous discussions, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have struck a crucial agreement to create a new coalition government. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said during a joint late-night news conference on Tuesday that PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari would again take the President’s seat, while PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif will take back the position of Prime Minister.

Citing Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) inability to get a majority in Parliament, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari voiced confidence in the coalition’s capacity to form the government. The newly formed coalition was criticized by Imran Khan’s PTI, who called it “PDM 2.0” and accused them of being “mandate thieves.”