ECP decides to move court for ‘way forward’

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Wednesday decided to move the court of law for a ‘way forward’ with regard to the dates of general elections to the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The electoral body came up with this option at the end of its special meeting held here at the Election Commission Secretariat, which was presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, and attended, by its members and other senior officials. The forum held deliberations for about two hours on legal and constitutional options on the matter.

According to sources, the meeting had a review of the situation, following the refusal of Governor Punjab Balighur Rehman to be part of the consultation process to fix the poll date for the Punjab Assembly as he was not behind the dissolution of the provincial legislature. Sources maintained the commission resolved to fulfil its constitutional obligations but pointed out that the Election Commission was not in a position to fix a date for the elections on its own, as Article 105 (3) of the Constitution clearly envisages that the governor is mandated to fix the date not later than 90 days after the dissolution of a provincial assembly.

“Being a constitutional body, we just can’t be influenced by the will of people, rather the ECP will go by the law and Constitution and already the Lahore High Court has given direction to the commission to consult Governor Punjab on this count,” they maintained.

Interestingly, the governors of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have already declined to give dates for general elections to the provincial assemblies; they urged the commission to consult relevant authorities and take stock of the current security and economic situation before taking a decision in this connection.

Moreover, chief secretaries of the two provinces as well as inspectors general of police informed the Election Commission about the shortage of police personnel and the looming threats of terrorism. Meanwhile, the Election Commission Wednesday directed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to submit a reply in the case of his removal from the party leadership.

During the hearing of the case before the ECP bench, ex- premier’s lawyer Barrister Gohar contended that the petitioner advocate Afaq Ahmed not appear before the commission, therefore, the case should be dismissed for non-compliance.

However, the ECP Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa member Justice (retired) Ikramullah Khan asked the lawyer to give arguments for the case and said that the matter will be looked into.