ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court to review the April 4 verdict in the Punjab Assembly elections case.
The election body said that the Supreme Court should review its decision as the judiciary does not have the power to give the date of the elections.
The development came as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said it would submit a detailed report of the talks with the government, urging the Supreme Court to implement its verdict.
“[…] It is most respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may, in the interest of justice and equity, reconsider, review, revise and recall its impugned order/judgment dated 04.04.2023 for immediate review. “Granted the request,” read the 14-page petition — a copy of which is available on JEE News.
The petition highlighted that the High Courts of the country have been given exclusive powers under Article 199 and Article 184(3) of the Constitution to conduct judicial review of the actions/decisions of public bodies.
“The High Courts can define the forms within which the power (which vests in public bodies) is or is to be exercised. In any case, cannot the High Courts assume the role of a public body,” the petition said. I was written.
The election body reiterated that fixing the date of elections “is not a mandate of the High Courts under the Constitution.”
Citing various legalities and reasons behind his statement, the ECP said, “Such powers exist elsewhere under the Constitution but certainly do not lie in court.”
The electoral body accused the Supreme Court of ignoring its constitutional jurisdiction, asserting that it had assumed the role of a public institution in giving history. “Thus court intervention is required to correct a mistake which has effectively changed the settled constitutional principle of the country.”
The executive and the judiciary – the two main arms of the state – are on a collision course as the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government has shown its disdain for the Supreme Court’s April 4 decision to postpone elections in Punjab to October 8. PK’s decision was annulled. A year after it was initially announced to be held on April 30.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Atta Bandyal, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar gave its verdict on the PTI’s plea challenging the ECP’s move to postpone the Punjab Assembly elections till October.
The Chief Justice announced that elections in Punjab will be held on May 14 as the Supreme Court declared the ECP’s decision “unconstitutional”.
While the PTI celebrated the “historic verdict, the government”. However, termed the verdict as contrary to the judgments of the majority judges of the Supreme Court, saying it was an “impractical order”.
The issue of who has the authority to fix the election date has been under discussion ever since the PTI dissolved the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies in January on the instructions of Imran Khan.
The ECP, in its petition filed today, claimed that the August court had ignored material questions of constitution and law, which had any bearing on the verdict.
The ECP wrote that “mistakes of law are floating on record and it is clear and obvious that they shall be allowed to remain so”.
He further wrote: “The petition seeks the grace of this Hon’ble Court to permit the petitioner to raise and agitate further grounds after the detailed reasoning of the revision order is issued.”
