Islamabad: The Supreme Court, while pronouncing the verdict in the case related to elections delay in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), declared Election Commission’s decision null and void, and ordered to hold the elections in Punjab on October 8.
CJP Umar Atta Bandial started the initial verdict with a verse from the Quran, while pronouncing the decision, the Chief Justice said that the detailed decision will be issued later.
The Supreme Court declared the Election Commission’s order to hold elections on October 8 as unconstitutional.
In the decision, it was said that the decision of the Election Commission of March 22 is declared unconstitutional, the decision of the President of the country is restored. The constitution and law do not give the authority to postpone the date of elections. Election Commission gave its decision on March 22, then the election process was at the fifth stage. 13 days were lost due to the order of the Election Commission; the Election Commission took an unconstitutional decision.
The Supreme Court has declared that the Election Commission exceeded its jurisdiction by giving the date of the elections on October 8. The last date for submitting appeals against the Returning Officer’s decision will be April 10. The Election Tribunal will decide on the appeals on April 17. The final list of candidates in Punjab should be published on April 18. Election symbols should be allotted by April 20.
The Supreme Court has ordered that the elections in Punjab should be conducted transparently, impartially and in accordance with the law. The federal government should release a fund of 21 billion rupees to the Election Commission by April 10. The commission should submit the report of the fund to the bench members in the chamber, in case the fund is not received, the Supreme Court will issue instructions to the relevant authorities.
In the decision, it has been ordered that the Punjab government should provide a security plan to the Election Commission, the supervisory cabinet of Punjab and the Chief Secretary should report to the Election Commission by April 10 for the election staff, the supervisory government should provide all the support and resources to the Election Commission for the elections in Punjab, the federal government should also provide resources and support for the elections.
The decision has said that the federal government should provide forces, rangers, FC and other officials for the elections, the federal government should provide a security plan to the election commission by April 17, if the federal government and the caretaker government of Punjab do not implement the court order. The commission should inform the court.
The Supreme Court says that the decision of the court was given in the ratio of three to two on March 1, the attention of the Supreme Court was drawn to two minority notices, the ratio of four to three in the judges’ notes is against the law. The decision of Justice Faizisai and Amin uddin Khan has no legal status.
The judgment said that the governor was not represented in the court for the elections in KP, the matter will remain under hearing to the extent of KP, for date of election in KP refer to relevant forum, applicants for election in KP can refer to court.
