By Naveed Naqvi
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) on Wednesday ruled that elections for the provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa must be held within 90 days as mandated by the Constitution.
The five-member top court bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial gave a split 3-2 decision in a suo moto notice of the president’s announcement to determine which government institution had the constitutional responsibility of deciding the poll dates.
The Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies were dissolved on January 14 and 18, respectively by the former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party as part of its bid to force early general elections in the country.
Khan has been seeking snap polls in the country since he was ousted from power in a no confidence vote in April last year.
“Parliamentary democracy is one of the salient features of the constitution. There can be no parliamentary democracy without parliament or the provincial assemblies … Elections, and the periodic holding of elections, therefore, underpin the very fabric of the constitution,” the court said in its order.
“And there can be neither Parliament nor provincial assemblies without the holding of general elections as envisaged, required and mandated by and under the Constitution and in accordance therewith”.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah dissented with the ruling.
The court said that since the governor of Punjab, Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman, did not sign the order declaring the dissolution of the assembly, the president had the constitutional responsibility to announce the election date in the province.
It further noted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Haji Ghulam Ali, despite signing the dissolution order on January 18, failed to declare a poll date, which the top court said was a “breach of his constitutional responsibility”.
“In situations where the assembly is not dissolved by order of the governor, the constitutional responsibility of appointing a date for the general election that must follow is to be discharged by the president.”
The president or the governor “must discharge the constitutional responsibility of appointing a date for the said election swiftly and without any delay and within the shortest time possible”.
“The Election Commission must proactively be available to the president or the governor, and be prepared for such consultation as required for a date for the holding of general elections,” the court said.
“The Election Commission is therefore directed to use its utmost efforts to immediately propose, keeping in mind ss. 57 and 58 of the 2017 Act, date to the president that is compliant with the deadline. After consultation with the ECP, the President shall announce a date for holding the general election to the Punjab Assembly.”
“If such a course is not available, then the Election Commission shall in like manner propose a date for the holding of the poll that deviates to the barest minimum from the aforesaid deadline,” the order said.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Khan suspended his “Jail Bharo” – or fill prisons – movement after the court order.
The movement was formally kicked off from the eastern city of Lahore last Wednesday where several PTI leaders voluntarily presented themselves to be arrested and were later taken to prisons in different Pakistani cities.
“We welcome the SC [supreme court] judgement,” Khan said in a Twitter post. “It was the responsibility of SC to uphold the Constitution & they have valiantly done that through their judgement today. It is an assertion of Rule of Law in [Pakistan]. We are suspending our Jail Bharo movement & moving forward with [election] campaigns in KP & Punjab.”
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