Following Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial’s assurance that the “past will not be used against the government”, the Supreme Court on Thursday resumed hearing ECP’s review petition questioning the apex court’s “right” to announce poll dates.

Apart from the CJP, who is heading the bench, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan are also hearing the proceedings — this is the same bench that issued the directive on April 4.

Last month, after the bench’s order to conduct polls on May 5, the electoral watchdog had informed the apex court that it could not conduct elections owing to security concerns and a paucity of funds.

However, upon the court’s repeated instructions to ensure the elections, the ECP filed a review petition seeking an overturn of the court’s order. 

This time, the body based its argument on its assertations that deciding on the date of the elections was beyond the jurisdiction of the apex court.

In the hearing yesterday, the bench had assured the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan and the ECP legal counsel Advocate Sajeel Shehryar Swati that it had no intention to hold the government’s past actions against it.

CJP Bandial had also slammed the ECP for not appraising the president of the situation properly and had asked why the commission had not told the president what it was informing the court now.

ECP’s petition

The electoral watchdog filed a review petition in the apex court against its order passed on April 4, setting May 14 as the date for holding elections in the province of Punjab.

It had submitted that, under the Constitution, the power of the announcement of the date for the general elections is vested in bodies other than any judicial institution; therefore, the impugned order under review had “breached the salient principle of the trichotomy of powers and thus is not sustainable”.

Elections — principally a domain of the election commission under Article 218(3) of the Constitution read with other provisions of the Constitution — is the sole responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan, the ECP had contended.

Moreover, the ECP had submitted that in the presence of an elected government in Punjab, the general elections to the National Assembly cannot be conducted fairly.

“Fair elections cannot take place in the presence of an elected government in Punjab”, the review petition had stated adding that the voter/electorate is likely to vote in favour of the candidates of the political party which has the elected government in Punjab. 

This is a developing story and will be updated shortly…