IHC did not dismiss petition by PTI candidates

Claim: A tweet claims that the Chief Justice, Islamabad High Court dismissed the petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI’s) candidates on the cases filed by the latter against rigging in general elections.

Fact: The news is false as the Chief Justice of Islamabad’s High Court, Justice Aamer Farooq did not dismiss the petition by PTI-backed candidates.

Elections 2024

Pakistan’s general elections were held on 8 February 2024. According to the results issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), independent candidates backed by former prime minister Imran Khan are leading by winning the most seats in the National Assembly. However, no political party has gotten a simple majority to form the government.

These disputes inundate courts nationwide as independent candidates backed by the PTI continue to challenge provisional election results. The petitions — heard in high courts in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar —  contest discrepancies between the data on Form 47, issued by returning officers (ROs), and the data on Form 45, which is the primary document containing data on candidates’ votes per polling station.

Islamabad High Court Petitions

On 10 February, PTI-backed candidates Amir Mughal, Shoaib Shaheen, and Mohammad Ali Bukhari, who contested elections from NA-46, NA-47, and NA-48, respectively, filed petitions in the IHC challenging the election results issued by the ECP. The petition challenges the notification that declared their opponents, Anjum Aqeel Khan, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, and Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz, as the winners within their respective constituencies.

The IHC Chief Justice, Aamer Farooq heard the petition on 13 February and reversed the verdict on the cases on 14 February 2024. Earlier, the IHC issued notices to the ECP on the petition against the ECP’s notification of results for NA-11 and NA-128.

Fact or Fiction?

On 14 February 2024, the official account of the President of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-N) Punjab wing posted a status (archive) in Urdu on X (formerly Twitter), that is as follows:

کیا آپ کے پاس کوئی ثبوت ہے دھاندلی کا؟ چیف جسٹس اسلام آباد ہائیکورٹ

ہم نے میڈیا پر دیکھا ہم جیت رہے تھے، اچانک ہار گئے، تحریک انصاف

عدالت کیوں آئے پھر اس چینل کے مالک کے پاس جائیں تاکہ وہ آپ کی کامیابی کرا سکے، چیف جسٹس اسلام آباد

ہائیکورٹ درخواست خارج!

Translation

[Do you have any evidence of rigging? Chief Justice Islamabad High Court

We saw on the media that we were winning, but suddenly we lost, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

Why come to court then, go to the owner of the TV channels so that they can make you successful, Chief Justice Islamabad

High Court dismissed the application!]

The post allegedly shows a conversation during the hearing of a case in Islamabad High Court filed by PTI’s candidates against the result notifications issued by the ECP, based on Form 47.

To investigate, Soch Fact Check contacted court reporter Aamir Baloch from Aik News, who confirmed that such a conversation did not occur during the hearing of the cases filed in the Islamabad High Court, and none of the petitions have been dismissed either.

Another court reporter, Zeshan Syed from Neo News confirmed to Soch Fact Check that the news circulating on social media is fake as the Chief Justice has not made any such statement, to his knowledge. He verified that all court judgements on petitions against election notifications were reserved as of 17 February.

On 19 February 2024, the IHC announced the verdict and suspended the notifications declaring PML-N candidates winners in all Islamabad constituencies, directing the ECP to hear the petitions of candidates.

Therefore, Soch Fact Check concludes that none of the petitions filed by PTI-backed candidates were dismissed by Chief Justice Ameer Farooq.

Virality

On X, the false news about the dismissal of election-related petitions by IHC received 7,32,600 views, 12,000 likes, and 4,400 reposts on X. Journalist Gul Bukhari also shared the post, the archived versions of which can be seen here.

On Facebook, the false news was posted here, here and here.

Conclusion: The Islamabad High Court has not dismissed the petitions of PTI-backed candidates against the ECP’s notifications. Soch Fact Check did not find evidence supporting claims of any such decision.

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