ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to remove an administrative objection to his petition, or the court would dismiss it after sustaining the objection raised by the registrar’s office.

       IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah took up the petition, jointly filed by Prime Minister Imran Khan and Planning Minister Asad Umar, against notices issued to them by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

       The ECP earlier issued notices to PM Khan, KP Governor Shah Farman, Chief Minister Mehmood Khan, federal ministers Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar and Murad Saeed and others for allegedly violating the election code of conduct.

       The registrar’s office raised administrative objections to the petition since the PM had neither attached a photocopy of his national identity card nor did he complete biometric verification. Though the IHC chief justice overruled the objection of not attaching the CNIC, he observed that the court could not exempt the PM from biometric verification. “Law is equal for all,” he remarked.

       Justice Minallah observed that in case the “petitioner [PM] would not remove the objection, the court would sustain it”. Hence the petition would be dismissed without any preliminary hearing.

       The PM Khan and Asad Umar stated in the petition that the ECP had issued notices despite new legislation regarding the election campaign.

       Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2022