SC raises eyebrows over ECP-Punjab governor polls meeting
Police officers walk past the Supreme Court of Pakistan building, in Islamabad, Pakistan April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday observed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should consult the governor of Punjab in case the Lahore High Court (LHC) directed it to do so before the announcement of the date of the provincial assembly election in Punjab.
The top court was hearing the appeals of PTI defectors from the Punjab Assembly who were denotified by the ECP for deviating from the party policy by voting in favour of PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz in the election for the Punjab chief minister last year.
The apex court had ruled that votes cast against party policy “cannot be counted and must be disregarded”.
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Nonetheless, the court had expressed interest in some “interesting questions” raised by the de-seated MPAs.
After hearing the arguments today, however, the court disposed of the appeals as they failed to convince the court that the matter deserved to be probed further.
During the proceedings, the upcoming elections in the PA were also mentioned.
CJ Bandial inquired whether the LHC had directed the ECP to hold elections and further asked what the electoral watchdog was up to following the orders.
DG ECP informed the court that the commission had held a meeting with Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman.
"The minutes for the meeting with other governor have not yet been received," the ECP official said but added that there were "chances he will follow legal channels on the matter".
Upon this, the CJ inquired why the ECP was consulting the governor.
"Why have you felt the need to enter consultations for the elections?" inquired Justice Ayesha Malik.
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"Perhaps the high court ordered the ECP to hold discussions with the governor," Justice Athar Minallah said.
The CJP observed that if the LHC had indeed issued such orders then the ECP should continue to hold discussions.
It may be noted that 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 PTI. The Punjab Assembly was dissolved last month.
Meanwhile, the meeting held yesterday between the ECP and the governor had 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.