Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday stopped the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from taking further action against the disqualified PTI lawmakers. In a two-page order, the PHC provided an interim relief to the PTI members of parliament who have approached the court to challenge the ECP's disqualification move following their conviction in the May 9 riots case.
The high court, announcing its reserved ruling on the pleas submitted by PTI's Omar Ayub Khan and Shibli Faraz, issued notices to the election commission and other parties before adjourning the hearing till August 20.
The order stated the petitioners were convicted by the Faisalabad's anti-terrorism court (ATC) and at the time of the verdict, they were not present in the said court. Earlier today, the opposition leaders in the Senate and National Assembly — Senator Shibli Faraz and Omar Ayub Khan, respectively, challenged the ECP's ruling, terming them "unlawful" and pleaded with the court to overturn the ruling.
The move comes a day after ECP de-notified nine PTI lawmakers following their convictions in the May 9 cases.