The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday restored an
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) notification which asked all 352
political parties to submit lists of at least 2,000 of their members and
deposit the enlistment fee of Rs200,000 each by Dec 2 or be ready to be
de-listed.
On Oct 20, the ECP had issued a notification
under the recently-adopted Elections Act, 2017, asking all political
parties to comply with provisions of its Sections 201, 202, 209 and 210
within 60 days of its enforcement.
In December, the IHC suspended the notification
after a preliminary hearing of the petition filed by four little-known
political parties having no representation in the parliament. The
parties include Democratic Party of Pakistan, Pakistan Democratic Front,
Sada-i-Pakistan Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Safdar).
The
petitioners had argued that they were legally enlisted political
parties after having fulfilled all procedural and codal formalities. The
parties submitted that provisions of the Elections Act, 2017 were
against the Constitution.
They had said that provisions of the Elections Act, 2017, were ultra vires and against the Constitution.
Justice Amer Farooq restored the notification after the ECP submitted a written reply on the matter.
A
representative of the ECP also appeared before the court and said that
the notification was issued as per the law under Section 202 of the
Electoral Reforms Act, 2017.
He added that all major political parties were consulted before introducing the latest rules and regulations.