PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday temporarily halted the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notice summoning Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in connection with an assets case.
A two-member bench of the PHC, comprising Justice SM Attique Shah and Justice Muhammad Faheem Wali, issued the suspension order.
During the proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel informed the court that a similar notice had been previously issued by the ECP and had been suspended by the PHC.
Justice SM Attique Shah questioned why the notice had been reissued after the court had already suspended it, suggesting that the petitioner’s lawyer should have filed a contempt of court petition against the ECP for this action.
The lawyer clarified that there was a slight difference between the previous and current notices, with the latter being a fresh notice issued by the ECP on November 20.
Earlier, in the previous hearing, Ali Amin Gandapur’s lawyer argued that the ECP no longer had the authority to demand details of his assets from previous years, as all information was available on the ECP website.
It is noteworthy that the ECP had issued a notice asking the KP CM to submit details of his assets for 2023.
In response, CM Gandapur approached the PHC to challenge the ECP’s notice. He filed a writ petition through his lawyer Syed Sikandar Hayat Shah Advocate, naming the ECP as the respondent.
The petition pointed out that Ali Amin Gandapur had contested the last general election from provincial assembly constituency PK-113, won a seat as a Member of Provincial Assembly, and is currently serving as the province’s chief minister.
