ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Monday admitted the Sohail Afridi election challenge for regular hearing and issued notices to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, the chief minister and the Attorney General for Pakistan.
Sher Afzal Marwat filed the petition, seeking to have Afridi’s election as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister declared void and former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur restored to office. Marwat filed the constitutional challenge in May.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi had been constituted to hear the case on September 14.
During Monday’s proceedings, Justice Aamer Farooq asked what constitutional question arose from the dispute. Marwat argued that Gandapur’s resignation was not voluntary because he had stepped down on instructions from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.
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Marwat also contended that the governor had not accepted Gandapur’s resignation and that formal acceptance was necessary before he could be de-notified. Justice Ali Baqar Najafi noted that Gandapur had submitted another resignation two days later.
The petitioner further relied on the Supreme Court’s judgment concerning Nawaz Sharif’s party presidency to argue that a disqualified person could not exercise state authority through a proxy. These submissions remain Marwat’s legal arguments and the FCC has not accepted them as findings.
The court adjourned further proceedings until the second week of October.
