Governor seeks clarity on LHC’s poll date order

Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman has sought clarity on the Lahore High Court (LHC) order about holding general elections in the province, as he chaired a consultative meeting with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) representatives at the Governor House on Tuesday.

On February 10, LHC Justice Jawad Hassan had ordered the ECP to hold elections in the province within 90 days of the dissolution of the provincial assembly on a petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The Punjab Assembly was dissolved last month.

The meeting at the Governor House remained inconclusive as the participants could not agree on a date for the general elections in Punjab. However, it was decided that the governor would approach the LHC for interpretation of its February 10 decision.

The governor would seek clarification regarding the legal scope of the single bench’s decision and how the decision regarding the election date was applicable to his office. He stressed that the LHC decision was open to interpretation and that he would take the legal route on the matter.

During the meeting, it was stated that the governor once again declined to give the election date, saying that he was not authorised for that. The governor insisted that he did not want to take any step outside the ambit of the law and the Constitution.

Read: ‘Headway’ in election schedule for Punjab

The meeting was chaired by the governor and the ECP secretary. It was attended by the relevant officials of the ECP besides the chief secretary and the inspector general of the Punjab police. For further deliberations on the elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja has called another meeting of the ECP on Wednesday (today).

Meanwhile, another petition was filed in the LHC seeking an order for President Arif Alvi to announce the date of elections in Punjab. The petitioner made the federal government, the president, the Punjab governor and the interim government respondents in the case.

The petitioner said that despite clear orders of the LHC on February 10 that the elections should be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the assembly, the ECP was reluctant to announce the election schedule.

The petitioner requested the court to issue an order under articles 48, 58 and 224 of the Constitution and Section 57 of the Election Act for the president to announce the election date because the ECP was running away from its duty.

Hearing the petition, Justice Jawad Hassan remarked that he would wait for first 90 days and then see if the court’s order to ECP was not complied with, stressing that he was sitting on the court and not going anywhere. Later, the petition was dismissed as withdrawn.

As proceedings commenced, petitioner’s counsel Azhar Siddique implored the court to direct the president of Pakistan to announce the elections date in Punjab and further sought action against the Punjab governor and the ECP for not entertaining the court’s order.

However, Justice Jawad Hassan remarked it is not the obligation of the ECP to give date for elections. “He will first wait for the 90 days and then see if his order is not complied with,” he said. “No need to worry, I am sitting here.”