Supreme Court Orders To Hold Polls In Punjab On May 14, Rejects ECP’s decision

Supreme Court orders to hold polls in Punjab on May 14, rejects ECP’s delay in polls ISLAMABAD: The Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial today announced the reserved verdict about elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. The CJP has declared unlawful the ECP decision to delay elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. On March 22, the ECP delayed polls in Punjab and KP citing different reasons. ECP gave an 8 Oct date to hold polls in Punjab and KP. The chief justice restored President Dr Alvi’s schedule of elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The chief justice said that the constitution does not allow the ECP to delay elections. The court also said that in Punjab, elections will be held on May 14. The court directed the federal government to provide 21 billion rupees to the ECP by the 10^th of April. The 3-member bench disregarded the dissenting notes of other judges of the Supreme Court who left the bench one after the other. The nine-member bench of the SC ended with a 3-member bench which announced the decision on Tuesday. The court ordered to ensure fair and free elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Regarding KP, the court said that no one represented the Governor of KP in the court and the hearing of the case of KP will continue. Earlier, Secretary Defence submitted the classified security situation report in the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning ahead of the announcement of the reserved verdict of the apex court. The classified security report cannot be made public, nonetheless, judges of the 3-member bench can read it to assess the security threats and reasons of non-availability of the army for polls. Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial stated that the government was delaying the polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Meanwhile, on Monday evening, the federal cabinet removed the Supreme Court Registrar Ishrat Ali on Monday soon after senior-most judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa sought his removal from office.

The SC Registrar was directed to report to the Establishment Division. The decision was taken in a special meeting of the cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad. The participants of the meeting considered a two-point agenda and got a briefing from Law Minister Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar and Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan. The cabinet meeting evaluated the issue of a circular that registrar Ishrat Ali issued against the order of the Supreme Court bench led by Qazi Faez Isa in violation of the constitution. The federal cabinet also urged President Dr. Arif Alvi to sign the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act 2023 forthwith to save the country from constitutional and political crises. In a strongly worded letter written to the Registrar, Justice Isa said that the Registrar doesn’t have the power to issue a circular and undo the decision of the special bench. Justice Isa asked the Registrar to withdraw the circular immediately and also relinquish the charge of his post for being incompetent to handle constitutional matters. Earlier, the Supreme Court reserved the verdict on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea against the ECP’s decision to delay the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Moreover, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked the attorney general that the government and PTI should find a solution via dialogue. CJP Bandial said, “The Constitutional machinery exists if political dialogue doesn’t take place.” “Allegations are being made because everyone wants to fulfill political interests. They want to choose their own judges to have their cases heard,” the chief justice remarked. “The idea of elections taking place at the same time is excellent. But two assemblies have been dissolved in this case. A guarantee would be needed from the federal government,” he said.