Supreme Court ruling on elections today: The judgment in the suo motu case for the delay in the announcement of the date of the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is due today, thus all eyes are once again on the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The decision will be announced at 11 a.m. by a five-member bench consisting of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justices Mansoor Ali Shah, Munib Akhtar, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Muhammad Ali Mazhar.
The court reserved its decision on Tuesday, and it was scheduled to be released that day. Instead, the supreme court chose to release it on Wednesday.
The judgement in this subject would clarify the powers of the president, governor, and Election Commission of Pakistan regarding the declaration of the election date in the event that provincial assemblies are dissolved, which attracted attention to the issue.
The court had earlier ordered political parties to discuss their leaders and come to an agreement regarding the polls, but the PML-N requested an extension citing the absence of members of the ruling alliance.
The Elections Act of 2017 explicitly specifies that the president may declare the election date, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial said during the hearing.
The governors of both provinces and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have been hesitant to set a date for general elections in the provinces since the dissolution of the assemblies. President Arif Alvi unilaterally stated that elections will be held in April after both parties failed to carry out their responsibilities. The coalition government strongly objected to this decision.
Barrister Argues Against Delay in Elections in Front of a Five-Judge Bench in Pakistan
The five-judge bench heard arguments from Barrister Ali Zafar, the attorney for the speakers of both provinces, who filed a case against the delay in the elections, throughout the hearing.
Once the session got underway, CJP Bandial announced that four of the judges had resigned from their positions, but the remaining members would still hear arguments regarding constitutional interpretation.
Zafar then began to argue, claiming that the governor had received the summary for the dissolution of the assembly from the Punjab chief minister. However, the governor did not sign the summary, and the parliament was dissolved 48 hours later.
According to him, the Punjab Assembly was dissolved on January 14, and the Constitution required the election to be held within 90 days of the house’s dissolution. The Lahore High Court (LHC) heard the case and ordered the ECP to consult the governor to choose an election date.But nothing came of the encounter.
“Can someone postpone the elections?” Judge Mazhar enquired. Zafar responded that no one could postpone the elections in accordance with the Constitution.
Ping pong was being played over the announcement of the election date, Judge Mazhar commented.
A lengthy delay of an intra-court appeal at the LHC was once the subject of a question from CJP Bandial. Attorney Azhar Siddique responded that the ECP had requested additional time to respond to the LHC, resulting in the postponement of the hearing.
He stated that the ECP had yet to submit a response to a contempt of court plea that was also entered before the LHC on February 14.
Akhtar discussed KP’s situation, and Zafar claimed that despite dissolving the parliament, the governor ordered the electoral authority to communicate with interested parties. He added that the governor had not yet announced an election date, citing security concerns in his letter.
Peshawar High Court Postpones Constitutional Cases Hearing After CJP’s Questioning
The Peshawar High Court is now hearing three constitutional cases, the attorney for the ECP informed the bench (PHC).
At this point, CJP Bandial questioned why the high court had given the parties a 21-day notice.
Formerly, CJP Bandial claimed that the parliament had expressly stated the president’s ability to set the election’s date in the elections statute. He claimed that it was still unclear what the president may discuss with the ECP.
The CJP postponed the hearing till 9:30 p.m. tomorrow after stating that the Supreme Court wished to conclude the case then.
