The ruling parties Pakistan Mulsim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) demanded that a full court bench of the Supreme Court be convened to hear the suo motu notice filed regarding the alleged delay in the general elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Farooq H. Naek, Kamran Murtaza, and Masoor Usman Awan argued for excluding Justices Ijazul Ahsan and Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and for the reconstitution of the bench.
Chief Judge Umar Ata Bandial noticed and formed a larger bench which appeared to be a delay in the elections for the Punjab and KP assemblies; both assemblies were dissolved on January 14 and 18.
Thursday afternoon, the court began to hear the case. The bench is entrusted with determining who is qualified to set the election date, the constitutional obligations of the federation and the provinces, and who will carry out the election’s time requirements.
Premier Shehbaz Sharif and other ruling coalition members have voiced their concerns with the two justices on the bench. In a meeting chaired over by Prime Minister Shehbaz, the PML-N stated that it does not expect justice from the two Supreme Court judges and that they should step down from the benches hearing their cases.
The petition alleged that Article 10A rights had been violated by the parties involved. It further highlighted that Judge Jamal Khan Mandokhail had stated that referring the issue to the chief justice for suo moto action under Article 184(3) was incorrect and that the conduct was “not warranted.”
In the petition, it was said that the judge of the highest court expressed constitutional issues over the employment of suo motu powers under the aforementioned article.
The petition claimed that relevant parties who had received notices from the apex court had appeared before the court a day earlier through their attorneys and requested that Justice Naqvi and Justice Ahsan recuse themselves from hearing any cases involving the PML (N), PPPP, and JUI (Pakistan) and their leaders, as well as SMC No. CPs No. 1 of 2023 and. The first and second of 2023.
The scenario has raised a number of extremely critical legal, constitutional, and public policy questions, according to the top justice, the statement said.
Therefore, the parties have requested a new bench to consider the aforementioned petitions, claiming the interests of justice, fairness, and increasing public confidence in the nation’s Supreme Court.