The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to address Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) complaints regarding a level playing field in the general election 2024. The case was fixed for hearing earlier on Friday after during the hearing of the cipher case against former prime minister, PTI lawyer raised the issue before a three-judge bench headed by interim Chief Justice Sardar Tariq Masood. The court later formed a three-judge bench to hear the case immediately. The bench was headed by Justice Masood and comprised Justices Athar Minallah and Mansoor Ali Shah. SC in its verdict ordered PTI leaders to meet the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan at 3pm today and directed the electoral body to redress the complaints for level playing field in the election.

During the hearing, ECP lawyer and the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan assured SC of their cooperation in addressing the issue. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, Barrister Gohar Ali filed the petition in the apex court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution making the federation of Pakistan through its secretary, Ministry of Interior, ECP and chief secretaries of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Sindh and Balochistan respondents for allegedly not treating his party it on a par with the other political parties. He prayed to the apex court to direct the respondents to provide a level-playing field to the PTI for the purpose of free and fair elections, in the interest of justice.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)