SC set to announce its verdict tomorrow in suo motu case about elections in Punjab and KP
ISLAMABAD: The five-member bench of the Supreme Court will announce tomorrow its reserved decision in the suo motu case about elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The bench reserved its decision on Tuesday after hearing arguments from the counsels of all the stakeholders. The court, therefore, decided to announce its verdict on Wednesday around 11 am.
During Tuesday’s hearing, the chief justice asked the lawyers of political parties to give a date after consulting the leaders. However, neither PML-N nor PPP counsels gave any date arguing that political parties need more time for consultation on this issue.
Farooq H. Naik, counsel for the PDM, told the court that the leaders of the PDM are of the opinion that the political parties are not supposed to give a date for elections.
Consequently, the chief justice reserved the verdict and adjourned the hearing saying that the court will announce a decision on Wednesday morning.
The apex court also noted that President Alvi has wrongly given a date for elections in KP because the Governor of the province dissolved the assembly on the advice of the chief minister. As per the law, Governor is supposed to give a date for polls.
However, President Alvi was right in giving a date for polls in Punjab as Governor did not sign the dissolution of the assembly.
Earlier, on Tuesday the chief justice said that the President of Pakistan can give elections date. He said that the parliament has clearly defined in the Elections Act 2017, that the president can announce a date for elections.
Bandial explained that President Dr. Alvi observed that the Governors of KP and Punjab failed to announce the election date.
Consequently, the President of Pakistan announced the date for polls in Punjab and KP on April 9.
The CJP reconstituted the 9-member bench of the Supreme Court when four judges refused to hear the case on Monday. Justices Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Athar Minallah, and Justice Yahya Afridi recused themselves from hearing the case on Monday.
Now the five-member is led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and it consists of Justices Munib Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Mansoor Ali Shah, and Mandokhail who conducted today’s hearing.
