Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday said it will announce the verdict within the next 24 hours on the petition filed by former prime minister Imran Khan's party challenging the country's election commission's decision to postpone polls in the Punjab province. On March 22, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) delayed assembly polls in the politically crucial Punjab province by more than five months, citing the deteriorating security situation in the cash-starved country, a move criticised by Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chairman.
Khan's PTI challenged the ECP's decision to postpone polls in the Punjab Assembly to October 8, instead of holding it within 90 days as per mandated by the Constitution. The assembly in the Punjab province was dissolved on January 14 by the erstwhile PTI government. A three-member bench of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar heard the petition on Monday.
The judges while hearing the petition observed that the ECP was not empowered to delay the elections. The question is how the ECP can give the date of Oct 8 for polls, CJP Bandial said. The law gives no one the authority to delay elections. Only the court can delay the date for polls," he observed. After hearing the petition, the CJP said an announcement would be made on Tuesday. "The Constitution is clear about when the elections should be held," he observed.
"The court will be blamed if something were to happen during the polls," he added. The CJP's announcement on Monday rounded off high drama after two judges from the original five-member bench Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Aminuddin Khan recused themselves from the hearing. The ECP said the decision was taken after briefing of the government and different departments and intelligence agencies informed that "the law and order situation in the country doesn't permit the holding of elections at any province at this point in time." The finance secretary had cited a paucity of funds and the ongoing financial crunch as a reason for a lack of funds for the elections.
Khan had condemned the ECP's move to postpone the elections till October, calling it a violation of Pakistan's constitution. Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governor Haji Ghulam Ali fixed May 28 as the date for polls in the province but subsequently backtracked on his decision while calling for key challenges to be addressed before a new date is announced.
The issue of the election has taken centre stage in Pakistani politics as Khan has been pushing for timely elections in Punjab and KP provinces. However, the federal government has been trying to delay the provincial polls with the plea that elections should be held after August 2023 when the term of the current House comes to an end.
Khan, the 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician, was granted interim bail by a special court in Islamabad after being shot during the assassination attempt. He was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China, and Afghanistan. Khan, who came to power in 2018, is the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament. (PTI)
