PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Friday appointed two former Peshawar High Court judges, including retired Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani and retired Justice Lal Jan Khattak, as heads of election tribunals for disposal of electionrelated petitions in Peshawar.

A notification, issued by an ECPdeputy director (law), read that the twoformerjudgeshadbeenappointed as election tribunal heads under Article 219(c) of the Constitution read with Section 140 of the Elections Act.

Justice Chamkanireplaces Justice Shakeel Ahmad, who was recently elevated to the Supreme Court.

Justice Khattak replaced Justice Wiqar Ahmad, who recused himself from hearing election petitions, assigned to him in Dec 2024.

Justice Chamkani had also served as caretaker provincial minister in 2018 and had remained advocate general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Belonging to Peshawar, he is a prominent lawyer who was elevated to the bench in July 2012 and had retired as a judgeof the high court in March 2016.

Similarly, Justice Khattak, belonging to southern Karak district, was elevated as an additional judge of the high court in March 2013 and retired in Jan 2023. He had also served as additional advocate generalofthe province.

On Feb 17, 2024,the ECP had notified six PHC judges to function as election tribunals, including two at the principal seat in Peshawar and one each for Mingora, Abbottabad, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan benches of the high court.

Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice wiqar Ahmad were appointe d to a tribunal for Peshawar.

In Dec last year, Justice Wiqar recused himself from hearing fiveelection petitions after the ECP transferred one of the pleas pending with it to another tribunal.

The five petitions, which the tribunal recused to hear, were filed by former provincial ministers Taimoor Saleem Jhagra of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Amjid Afridi of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians, former federal minister Abbas Afridi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, former MNA of the PTI Hamidul Haq and another PTI leader of Kurram district Imran Khan.

These petitioners have challenged the declaration of their rivals as returned candidates by the concerned returning officers and ECP.

On Nov 14, the ECP accepted aplea of an MPA of Pakistan Tehreeki-Insaf-Parliamentarians (PTIP), Arbab Mohammad Waseem, and ordered transferring from the said tribunal an election petition filed by a rival independent candidate backed by PTI, Ali Zaman.

Apart from the said six petitions, other election pleas pending in Peshawar were filed by PTI backed candidates named Kamran Khan Bangash (PK-82), former deputy speaker of the KP Assembly Mahmood Jan (PK-72), former MNA Sajid Nawaz Khan (NA-28), former MPA Arbab Jehandad Khan (PK74), former Peshawar district nazim Mohammad Asim (PK-78), lawyer Malik Shahab (PK-75) and provincial president of Awami NationalParty and former provincial minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain (PK-89).

While under Section 148 of the Elections Act, an election petition shall be decided within 180 days of its filing, the petitions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa couldn`t be decided in the prescribed period.

The PTI leaders in their petitions mostly claimed that according to the respective Forms-45 they had won the polls in their respective constituencies, but the concerned returning officers manipulated the results and declared their rivals as returned candidates in the respective Form-47.

The petitioners of other political parties have alleged rigging in their respective constituencies.