The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed on Thursday the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) plea seeking a review of the apex court's order calling for elections in Punjab to be held on May 14. The verdict was unanimously announced by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan. In its April 4 order, the Supreme Court had not only declared as “unconstitutional” the ECP’s decision to move Punjab polls date to October 8 from April 10, and also set May 14 as the new date for polls in the province, in a blow to the then coalition government that was seen dragging its feet on provincial elections. On March 22, the ECP delayed the provincial assembly election in the politically crucial Punjab province by more than five months, citing the deteriorating security situation in the cash-starved country, a move criticised by PTI chairman Imran Khan. Since his ouster last April 2023 in a no-confidence vote in parliament, Imran had been demanding early elections. Then premier Shahbaz Sharif dismissed the demand and kept to elections scheduled for later this year. The PDM government wanted national elections and the voting for the two provincial assemblies held on the same day. In early May, the ECP had filed a petition seeking a review of the earlier order maintaining that changing the election programme was the solitary domain of the ECP under Section 58 of the Elections Act, 2017. During the proceedings today, the ECP lawyer requested the court for a week’s time. “The SC has issued detailed orders on the Punjab polls issue,” he said, “in preview of this detailed verdict, more time is required to give arguments on additional grounds.” However, the request was not granted by the court. The ECP lawyer then argued that according to the new law, only the ECP has the power to announce elections, but this argument was also shot down by the bench as Justice Akhtar observed that “this question is not before us right now, we are only hearing the review petition”. The judge then proceeded to ask the lawyer to argue if there were any errors or inconsistencies in the judgment itself that mandated a review. CJ Bandial furthered that “not only do you have the right to announce polls, but it is your [ECP’s] constitutional duty. Read ‘Law tweaks’ empower ECP to announce vote date Justice Akhtar remarked that it is clearly stated in the constitution that elections are to be held within 90 days while Justice Ahsan stressed that the constitutional mandate of holding elections within 90 days of passing the law cannot be changed. “The ECP cannot delay the elections for more than 90 days,” he said. The ECP lawyer argued that there was some room for exceptions to the 90-day limit and said that “there are some mistakes in the Supreme Court's decision”. Justice Ahsan however observed that “Article 281 (3) of the Constitution postulates that it is the ECP’s responsibility to organize and conduct elections” and that it must do so within the constitutionally mandated period of 90 days. “Then how did the ECP grant itself this flexibility to delay elections?” he inquired. At one point, CJP Bandial observed that "The court will intervene whenever there will be a constitutional violation."
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