The upcoming elections will not yield any positive outcome for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said as these elections are believed to be a crucial turning point for Pakistan's political landscape.
The minister's remarks come after a three-member bench of the Supreme Court unanimously ordered to hold the elections in Punjab and declared the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) order to delay the election in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa "unconstitutional".
The bench — led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan — also ordered the electoral body to hold the polls in Punjab on May 14.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), on the other hand, is not threatened by the election, the interior minister pointed out, in a Geo News programme 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath' on Wednesday. What the government seeks is to hold elections on a single day throughout the country, he stressed.
After the top court's order, the election commission notified May 14 as the election date, with the stalled polling process to resume on April 10. Reacting to the development in response to a questoin, the minister said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is free to make a decision about holding elections but its decision is not binding on the government.
Responding to a query about the allocation of funds to the electoral body, Sanaullah remarked that it would be premature to make any statements until Parliament makes a decision about giving money to the Election Commission.
Highlighting the critical role of the Parliament following the ECP's decision to go ahead with excueting the Supreme Court verdict for elections in Punjab in May, he said that any decision made by the parliament would be binding on the government, and the resolution being tabled today would represent the entire parliament's order.
The resolution referred to by Rana Sanaullah will be tabled in the lower house of Parliament. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif termed the apex court proceedings horrible and said the National Assembly would pass a resolution rejecting the verdict on Thursday (today).
He said that if the three-judge bench wants to send the entire parliament home, then it should do so once and for all. He also spoke about the verdicts of four other judges. He wondered if these four judges were inferior or incompetent.
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