Daily Times

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday dismissed a review petition of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the verdict for holding elections within 90 days of the dissolution of Punjab Assembly.

The three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar announced the verdict after hearing arguments from the respondents. During the course of proceedings, the CJP said that the top court would act whenever the constitution was violated. The review appeal could not be accepted in current circumstances and therefore, it was being terminated, he said.

The chief justice observed that previously, the ECP was of the view that it could hold elections if funds and security were provided, but now it was saying that the polls were not possible due to certain reasons. Justice Munib Akhter remarked that the top court had proposed a solution to the ECP in the verdict that could file a constitutional petition if it could not hold elections in said time period. The ECP had no authority to take the election schedule beyond the time limit of 90 days as it was its mandate, he added.

Justice Munib said that no one could violate the Constitution, and the institution concerned should approach the court if there were any difficulty in implementation of it. Giving arguments, the ECP’s lawyer Sajeel Swati said that he wanted to submit more relevant documents in light of the court’s order. The Commission had been empowered to fix a date for the general elections after amendments in sections 57 and 58, he said and prayed the court to grant one-week time for case preparation.

The lawyer said that the Constitution entrusted the responsibility to the ECP to holding fair elections in the country. The elections were not possible due to the incident of May 9, he added.

Justice Ahsan said that the Constitution did not permit the electoral body to extend the date for the elections.

In April this year, a three-member bench of the top court headed by CJP Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar declared the ECP’s decision to hold polls on October 8 instead of April 30 “illegal” and ordered the electoral watchdog to hold polls in Punjab on May 14. However, the Commission filed a plea requesting the SC to revisit its order upon the expiration of the May 14 deadline set by the top court.

In a 14-page petition, the top election organising authority said that the apex court should 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 said, citing various legalities and reasons behind its statement.

The electoral body accused the apex court of disregarding its constitutional jurisdiction, emphasising that it assumed upon itself the role of a public body in giving a date; “thus intervention by the court is necessitated to correct an error which has effectively changed the settled constitutional jurisprudence of the country”. In a bid to ensure elections on the prescribed date, the three-member bench of the Supreme Court on April 14 ordered the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to allocate and release Rs21 billion from the funds held with it to the ECP. On April 18, the ECP informed the top court that it had not yet received Rs21 billion required for holding elections to the Punjab Assembly on May 14.

CJP Bandial, on April 20, had remarked that the apex court could make some room and change the date of elections if all the political parties evolve a consensus. Later, the top court clarified that negotiations between the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to end the political deadlock on the general election’s timeframe were initiated in a volunteer capacity and that the top court did not issue any direction in this regard.