ISLAMABAD: Feb 22,2023: The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) has taken a suo moto notice of inordinate delay in announcement of general elections in the Punjab and Khyber Pukhtunkhaw (KPK) and constituted a 9-member bench to hear the case on priority basis.
Chief justice Pakistan (CJP) , Umar Atta Bandial , will head the bench.
The apex court has fixed the case for Thursday.
Top court of Pakistan has taken suo moto notice of the raging controversy over announcement of date for holding general elections in two provinces –KPK and Punjab.
As per article 224(2) of the constitution , after dissolution of the provincial assemblies of the Punjab and KPK , the general elections were due in these two provinces in 90 days, but the matter turned into a roaring controversy when the Governors of the both the provinces did not announce the date for general elections in their respective provinces.
Delay in announcement of date for holding general elections in these two provinces deepened political polaristion among the parties .
In this scenario , president , Dr Arif Alvi, gave the date for holding general elections in the Punjab and KPK on his own . He fixed April 9,2023 for holding general elections in KPK and Punjab and directed to the Election Commission of Pakistan !ECP) to make arrangements for holding free and fair elections in these two provinces on the.fixed date.
ECP ,however , rejected the president Dr Arif Alvi’s advice and told him to stay in his constitutional domain.
According to ECP , the president has no role in fixing date for holding any elections in Pakistan.
Clash over domain and constitutional authority issue between the president office and ECP gave a new twist to the on-going constiturional crisis in the country.
Smelling an unending constitutional crisis in the country, two judges of SCP wrote a note to the CJP to take suo moto notice of the matter to avoid anarchy in the country .
On the basis of the note of the brothern judges , CJP took suo moto notice of the matter and fixed the case for hearing for Thursday.
The government and Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) has welcomed the SCP decision of taking suo moto notice of the case and hoped that top court’s intervention will sort out the controversy over holding of general elections in the KPK and Punjab.
Interior minister , Rana Sanaullah, in his media talk on Wednesday said SCP’s action of taking suo moto in the case was a good omen and the government will follow the decision in letter and spirit.
PTI senior leader , Fawad Hussain Chaudhary welcomed SCP’s decision to take suo moto in the case and hoped it will save the country from a serious constitutional crisis.
Peace International UK chairman , Javed Raja, has appreciated SCP for taking suo moto notice of the matter. In his statement , Javed Raja said
“Well done Supreme Court of Pakistan to take sue motto notice for the provincial elections in the Punjab and KPK and I hope it will prevent the instability and anarchy in Pakistan”.