JUI-F leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman on Tuesday filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), requesting that the election of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa be “set aside” and declared as null and void. Rehman was one of the four people in the race for the office of KP CM, along with Sardar Shah Jehan Yousaf of PML-N, and Arbab Zarak Khan of PPP and PTI’s Sohail Afridi — who won the election after the opposition staged a boycott. The candidates fielded by the JUI-F, the PPP and the PML-N recieved zero votes during the election while Afridi won with 90. 

Rehman named six respondents, including the KP government, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, the KP Assembly through its Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, the secretary of the provincial assembly, outgoing KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, and CM-elect Sohail Afridi. In his petition, he requested the court to set aside the election and declare it “ab initio void” as the it was “wholly unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, mala fide, without jurisdiction, coram non judice.” Rehman questioned how an election could be held if Gandapur’s resignation had not yet been accepted.

Citing Article 130(8) of the Constitution, he stressed that elections for the post can not be held unless it was vacant. The petition asked the court to declare decisions taken by the assembly and the speaker with regard to the CM appointment as “without lawful authority, void, and of no legal effect.” The petition further urged the court to “declare all consequential notifications and actions, including the impugned notification, as illegal, arbitrary, capricious, without jurisdiction and having no legal effect.”

Rehman requested the court to halt any further proceedings in the matter until the governor had “lawfully received and verified” the resignation of Gandapur.The petition called for a fresh election “in accordance with the Constitution and the assembly rules, after lawful confirmation of vacancy.” It concluded by requesting the PHC to suspend the election result in order to “prevent chaos and ensure preservation of the rule of law.”

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)