ISLAMABAD: New Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial today said the constitutional and legal institutions should be independent and sovereign.
The CJP stated this while hearing a case on the re-poll order of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the Sarai Naurang Tehsil on his first day in the Supreme Court as CJP.
The ECP ordered re-polling at six polling stations in Lakki Marwat’s Sarai Naurang last month, where females were not allowed to cast their votes during the first phase of the local government polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
During the hearing of the case today, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) Senator Kamran Murtaza’s counsel Latif Khosa said that a re-poll was ordered in Sarai Naurang after the situation deteriorated during the election of the chairperson.
However, the lawyer informed the Supreme Court except one polling station, voting process was completed as per schedule in the tehsil.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah inquired about the incident of firing outside the women’s polling station which led to a casualty. The court stated that according to the returning officer’s report the electoral watchdog had ordered for a re-poll owing to the deteriorating law-and-order situation.
“Women did not go out to cast their votes out of fear,” Justice Shah said.
Latif Khosa stated that he believed in the sovereignty of the ECP because he was not affiliated with the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). However, the commission should have submitted a fair report, he added.
To this, CJP Bandial said there were 108 polling stations in the constituency and the JUI had won.
Therefore, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandia said remarked that the constitutional and legal institutions should be independent and sovereign.
“The election process should be transparent and free from any pressure,” CJP said, adding that he wants to make the authority of the commission clear.
The ECP’s director-general law requested the Supreme Court for additional time to submit their reply.
The counsel stated that the ECP had ordered a re-poll on February 13 and requested the court to make a decision on the case before that date. Hence, the hearing of the case was adjourned till February 8.
