Pakistan SC starts hearing election body's plea to reconsider Punjab poll order

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 15 : The Supreme Court on Monday began hearing the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) request to reconsider the April 4 order mandating that elections be held in Punjab on May 14, Geo News reported.

Earlier in April, a judicial bench ruled the poll body's decision to hold elections in Punjab on October 8 this year instead of April 30 as "illegal", and released an order to hold them on May 14.

Instead of following the order, the ECP asked the apex court to re-examine its decision.

The appeal is being heard by a three-member bench, presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, and also includes Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar.

In the 14-page petition, the ECP asked the apex court to review its decision as the judiciary "doesn't have the authority to give the date of elections."

"Such powers exist elsewhere under the Constitution but certainly not lie in a Court of law," the ECP had stated, mentioning various legalities and reasons behind its statement, according to Geo News.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was directed on April 14 to allocate and release (PKR) 21 billion from the money held with it to the ECP in an effort to guarantee elections take place on the scheduled date.

However, the ECP notified the supreme court that it had not yet obtained the sum required to hold the Punjab Assembly elections on May 14.

On April 20, CJP Bandial said that if all the political parties could come to an agreement and end the ongoing deadlock, the supreme court may reschedule the election's date, Geo News reported.

Later, the Supreme Court stated that its April 4 decision ordering the ECP to hold Punjab elections on May 14 "remained unchanged" in a three-page verdict of the April 27 proceedings of the Punjab election postponement case, as the two sides could not reach a consensus, despite being ordered multiple times.

Imran Khan's party has time and now demanded early elections in Punjab but could not come to the same page as the ruling coalition.

It is important to note here that the Punjab Assembly was dissolved in January at the command of PTI Chairman Imran Khan in order to compel the ruling coalition to seek early elections. But the federal government has consistently said that this year's elections will take place in October or November.

The PTI had protested the electoral authority's decision to push out the Punjab elections to October. In a ruling dated April 4, the Supreme Court ruled that the ECP's decision was illegal, void from the start, and had no legal effect, reported Geo News.