SC rejects petition to void elections on February 8 and fines petitioner

The petitioner was fined Rs. 500,000 by the Supreme Court (SC) for failing to appear in court, and the case for re-election and the annulment of the votes on February 8 was dismissed.

A three-member Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, heard a petition from Brig (retd) Ali Khan requesting that the court declare the elections null and void and order new ones due to purported poll manipulation.

The general election’s lack of openness has been criticized by a number of political parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

The disclosures made by now-former Rawalpindi Division commissioner Liaqat Chatha, who tendered his resignation on Saturday due to “guilty conscience” for encouraging widespread electoral tampering in the garrison city, added to the already mounting doubts about the polls and raised political temperatures throughout the nation.

The CJP asked for the petitioner’s identify during today’s hearing. In response, the applicant informed the court that he or she was a former military commander who had been court-martialed in 2012.

“The state should ensure that a court-martialed person does not use the rank of brigadier,” the judge stated.

The extra attorney general, complimenting the court on the efforts to get in touch with the petitioner, stated that in addition to the police having been dispatched to Khan’s residence, the Ministry of Defence had also sent a notice, which was put up on the gate to indicate that the petitioner was not in.

The chief judge responded to the former military officer’s email about the petitioner’s departure from the nation by saying, “Look at this petitioner [who] left the country after filing the application in the court.”

“I have never seen this before,” CJP Isa said, raising the possibility that the petitioner’s departure from the nation following the supreme court’s decision was part of a plot.

Judge Mazhar emphasized that the petitioner did not speak with any media outlet or file the application, according to the petitioner himself.

It’s important to note that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed concerns about the validity and dependability of the general elections, particularly the post-polling procedure, in addition to political parties who have doubts about the transparency of polls.