Today, the Supreme Court will resume its hearing on the suo moto notice seeking the postponement and delays of announcing an election date for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The supreme court issued notices to the federal government, the attorney general, the electoral commission, the advocates general of the four provinces, and the advocate general of the Islamabad Capital Territory during a hearing on February 23.
On February 22, Pakistan’s Chief Justice (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial noted an apparent delay in the elections in the two provinces where Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) disbanded legislative bodies in mid-January.
Read: CJP takes suo motu notice over delay in Punjab, KP elections
Two days after President Dr. Arif Alvi selected April 9 for provincial assembly elections, a decision the government termed “illegal and unconstitutional,” the CJ took suo motu notice. In addition, a larger bench was established to hear the case by the CJP.
The governors of the two provinces chose not to publish an election date.
The case was considered by a bigger panel of nine judges, overseen by Chief Justice Bandial. On the bench are Justices Ijazul Ahsen, Muneeb Akhtar, Mazhar Ali Naqvi, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Yahya Khan Afridi, Mansoor Ali Shah, Athar Minallah, and Jamal Khan Mandokhel.
