After Punjab polls verdict, PTI moves SC for elections in K-P

Maintains ECP bound to obey and implement the judgements of the apex court

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday moved the Supreme Court (SC) against Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Governor Haji Ghulam Ali’s decision for setting October 8 as a polling date for K-P elections.

The petition stated that “at the outset it is submitted that governor KPK has not appointed the date as mandated by the Constitution”, adding that the “Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has no jurisdiction or power to amend the Constitution and decide to hold the elections to the Provincial Assembly of K-P or to any other assembly beyond the period of 90 days (from the date of dissolution of assembly) as mandated by the Constitution”.

The PTI further maintained in the petition that the ECP is a body that is bound to obey and implement the judgements of the apex court and has no power or jurisdiction to overrule or review the same.

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The petition added that “under the Constitution, there is no provision in which an unelected and selected caretaker government can continue to operate for more than a period of 90 days”.

“The reasons given by the governor as well [the] ECP that the finances are not available or that law-and-order situation in the country is not conducive to hold the elections is, with respect, legally flawed and a disingenuous excuse to delay the elections,” added the petition.

The party requested the court to set aside the K-P governor’s “impugned letter” as unlawful and direct the electoral watchdog in the circumstances of this case to hold K-P polls not later than 90 days subject to the barest minimum to that timeframe.

Last week, the ECP had notified October 8 as the date for elections in K-P. The electoral watchdog had conveyed its decision through a notification, dated March 27.

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The notification came as the K-P governor had proposed the date of October 8 for elections in his province. He had written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, fixing the date for the K-P Assembly election.

The governor also mentioned a deteriorating law and order situation in the province.

The move by the PTI of filing a petition in the top court comes just days after the apex court declared as “unconstitutional” the ECP’s earlier decision to postpone elections in Punjab, in a blow to the government that has been trying to delay the provincial election citing security issues and the economic crisis.

The three-member bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan — had also fixed May 14 as the date for the poll in the province.