ISLAMABAD: Amid controversy over the Supreme Court’s verdict that declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order to postpone elections in Punjab as “unconstitutional”, the election body met today to consider the verdict. It will be taken.
According to the report of JEE News published today, the ECP has called an emergency meeting today to discuss the decision of the Supreme Court.
The meeting will be held at 11 am at the ECP Secretariat under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.
It is learned that the forum intends to prepare its own course of action in the light of the Supreme Court’s order.
“The commission will examine the Supreme Court order in detail from various angles and what are the directions and suggestions, if any,” a senior election body official told the publication.
He said that the election schedule given by the commission for the Punjab Assembly general elections will also be considered.
SC orders polling in Punjab on May 14
The Supreme Court on Tuesday annulled the decision of the ECP regarding the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) elections.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial, Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan delivered the verdict in an open court and declared the ECP’s decision to hold elections on October 8 unconstitutional.
The court directed the ECP to restore its previous polling schedule and extended it by 13 days.
The court clarified that the ECP cannot extend beyond the 90-day deadline and held that 13 days were lost due to the illegal decision of the ECP.
The Supreme Court also directed the caretaker government of Punjab to assist the ECP and directed the commission to inform it if the government refuses to do so.
The constitution and rules of the Election Commission did not allow extension of the date.
According to the decision, candidates will be able to submit their nomination papers from April 10, the electoral body will release the list of candidates on April 19 and the election symbols will be issued by April 20.
The court also directed the government to release Rs 21 billion for elections in Punjab by April 10 and asked the ECP to submit a report on the matter to the court on the same day. He further said that in case of non-disbursement of funds, the court will issue an appropriate order.
PM calls SC ruling ‘murder of justice’
In his reaction, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif likened the judicial killing of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to the decision of the Supreme Court, saying that it is ironic that the former Prime Minister was judicially killed on April 4 and again on the same day. . Justice was “murdered”.
Speaking in the National Assembly, the Prime Minister said that the Cabinet meeting has demanded that the reference regarding the judicial killing of the late Prime Minister has been pending for the past 12 years and the Full Court should decide it.
“The world knows that ZAB’s case was judicial murder because a former judge who decided the case admitted it in his memoirs,” he said.
Praising Zeb, Prime Minister Shehbaz said that he was one of the founding fathers of the 1973 Constitution and his historic services will always be remembered.
The events that have taken place in the last 72 hours are tantamount to the murder of justice.
