Election Commission of Pakistan unlikely to receive funds for Punjab polls by April 10

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 9 : The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is unlikely to receive the funds for holding polls in Punjab till tomorrow (April 10), as per the order of the Supreme Court in last week's verdict in the provincial elections delay case, Geo News wrote quoting sources.

The ECP spokesperson also confirmed that the electoral body had not yet received the funds.

Meanwhile, the sources within the government said that the possibility of the electoral body getting funds by April 10 was low as no meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has been scheduled so far, Geo News reported.

However, the prime minister can approve funds after the cabinet greenlights the budget in a summary moved through circulation.

It may be noted that the finance minister and finance secretary will have to be answerable before the SC in case of non-provision of funds under a contempt of court case, Geo News reported.

On April 4, the top court directed the Finance Ministry to release Pakist Rupees 21 billion to the ECP by April 10 for polls in Punjab, as per the election commission's demand.

The apex court had ordered elections in Punjab on May 14 and declared the ECP's March 22 decision to delay polls till October 28 as null and void.

The decision had been announced by a three-member bench led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Geo News reported.

The verdict was supposed to be a way out of the ongoing political and constitutional crisis but further deepened it as the government rejected the Supreme Court decision.

The ruling coalition is on the warpath with the SC after a three-judge bench unmously declared as unconstitutional the ECP's order to delay the elections in Punjab.

Besides rejecting the verdict, the government has also demanded the CJP's resignation and the formation of a full court, a demand that the top court had ignored earlier as well, to hear the case of polls date for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Geo News reported.

Moreover, the National Assembly passed a resolution rejecting the three-member Supreme Court bench's "minority" verdict on the Punjab elections. It made it binding on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his cabinet not to implement the decision.