AJK Supreme Court defers ECP plea against PTI's provisional registration

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court on Thursday deferred hearing the Election Commission's application seeking interim relief against a high court order directing the provisional registration of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as a political party.

A full bench comprising Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram, Justice Raza Ali Khan and Justice Khalid Yousaf Chaudhary ruled that the commission's application for ex parte ad interim relief would be heard together with its petition for leave to appeal (PLA) after the appeal completes the scrutiny process in the court's registry.

The decision means the legal challenge to PTI's provisional registration will remain pending as the region heads towards the general elections scheduled for July 27.

The controversy stems from the AJK High Court's June 23 order, which directed the Election Commission to provisionally register PTI as a political party while effectively suspending the commission's May 16 decision rejecting the party's registration application.

Challenging the high court's ruling, the Election Commission approached the Supreme Court through a petition for leave to appeal and simultaneously filed an application under Order VI, Rules 1 and 2 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1978, seeking immediate interim relief pending adjudication of the appeal.

At the previous hearing, PTI counsel Yasir Safeer Mughal sought an adjournment, informing the court that he required additional time to prepare his arguments.

Following the request, Chief Justice Akram ordered that the operation of the high court's June 23 order, insofar as it granted interim relief to PTI, would remain in abeyance until July 2.

When the matter came up for hearing on Thursday, the apex court decided that the commission's interim application should be heard alongside the main petition for leave to appeal instead of being decided separately.

The court, however, did not fix a date for the next hearing.

With the AJK Supreme Court scheduled to begin its summer recess on Monday, which will continue until October 7, legal observers believe the case is unlikely to be heard before polling day.

As a result, the legal status of PTI's provisional registration is expected to remain unresolved during the election campaign and throughout the July 27 general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.