All eyes on CJP-led bench hearing polls case in open court today

ISLAMABAD: Amid speculations, the Supreme Court will Thursday (today) take up a petition seeking general elections to the national and provincial assemblies on the same date.

A three-member bench of the apex court — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umer Ata Bandial — will hear the petition of Sardar Kashif Khan.

The two other members of the bench are Justice Ijazul Ahsen and Justice Munib Akhtar.

Instead of hearing the matter in the chamber, the bench will hear the matter in the open court at 11:30am.

Last week, the court had adjourned the hearing on the matter till April 27 after Attorney General Mansoor Awan and Farooq H Naek of Pakistan Peoples Party met in the chamber and apprised the bench about the deliberations among the senior cabinet members and their interaction with a senior officer-bearer of the PTI.

The bench was told that a recess was being taken on account of Eidul Fitr and several political leaders and party heads had already left or were leaving Islamabad for their hometowns.

They, however, informed the bench that a meeting had been scheduled among the leaders on April 26 and any progress in this regard would be reported to the court on April 27. After issuing its written order, the court held that its judgment rendered on the petition [delay in the elections] had already fixed May 14 as the election date to the Punjab Assembly election.

“That judgment holds the field and, therefore, its ruling is binding on all judicial and executive authorities in the country under Article 189 and Article 190 of the Constitution,” the court order said. Later, the court adjourned the matter until April 27 for further proceedings.

On April 19, the court had declared as non-maintainable the defence ministry’s plea seeking simultaneous general elections across the country and directed the government to release Rs21 billion by April 27 to the Election Commission of Pakistan for holding general elections to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.

A three-member bench of the apex court — headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsen and Justice Munib Akhtar — heard the plea filed by the defence ministry seeking countrywide elections on the same date. The defence ministry’s view was in line with the federal government’s stance which persistently opposed separate general elections to the two provincial assemblies.

It submitted that the tenure of the National Assembly and Sindh and Balochistan assemblies will end later this year and the federal government wanted the polls to take place then, not in May. The ministry prayed the apex court to recall its order of April 4, ordering elections in Punjab on May 14. It further prayed the apex court to issue directions for simultaneous general elections to the national and all provincial assemblies upon completion of their constitutional terms.

“In terms of the system of parliamentary democracy envisaged by the Constitution, the government of the day must command the confidence of the majority of the National Assembly at all times,” the court noted down in its order.

Furthermore, the court had held that given that the office of prime minister had primacy (who is declared by Article 91(1) to be the chief executive of the Federation), this also means that the prime minister must enjoy the confidence of the majority of the National Assembly at all times.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the roster for Bench 1 of the apex court was revised due to the unavailability of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umer Ata Bandial. The Bench No 1 — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan and comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel and Justice Athar Minallah — was scheduled to hear some routine cases.

However, according to sources, the chief justice was not well due to which his bench was delisted only for April 26 and the Registrar’s Office issued a notification delisting the cases fixed before the bench.

Similarly, the Registrar’s Office also notified the delisting of cases fixed before Bench No 2 of Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Shahid Waheed on April 26, revising the list accordingly