The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has challenged the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision of revoking a ban imposed by the electoral body on recruitment in the government departments and execution of development schemes in constituencies ahead of the upcoming general elections in the country. The commission submitted a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the IHC’s ruling, which was accepted by the apex court for hearing. On April 11, the ECP had placed a ban on new appointments by federal, provincial and local governments to ensure transparency in the upcoming general elections, besides halting execution of the development schemes taken up after April 1, 2018. Taking a suo motu notice of the issue, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had on April 24 referred the matter to the IHC ordering it to decide within a week whether the order was legal. Deciding on the matter, the IHC on Thursday had set aside the ECP decision. Published in Daily Times, May 12th 2018.