LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Thursday sought assistance from the attorney general for Pakistan and the advocate general of Punjab on an appeal of Governor Balighur Rehman challenging the decision of a single bench for announcement of the election date in the province.

The bench comprising Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal and Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabbir will resume hearing on Feb 21.

The governor filed the intra-court appeal through his principal secretary, Barrister Nabeel Awan.

Advocate Shahzad Shaukat argued on behalf of the governor and stated that the single judge failed to consider the provisions of the Constitution and the Election Act 2017 regarding the role of the appellant in announcement of the election date.

He said the governor was obliged to appoint a date for the election under the provisions of the article 105 of the Constitution in a situation where he (governor) dissolved an assembly.

In the present situation, the counsel said, the Punjab Assembly had not been dissolved by the governor. Therefore, he said, the question of appointment of an election date by him did not arise.

Advocate Shaukat contended that the single bench ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to fix a date for the election after consultation with the governor. He said this direction was illegal as the governor had not role ascribed to him regarding holding of the general election either in the Constitution or the Election Act 2017.

The counsel argued that the single judge misconstrued the provisions of Article 129 of the Constitution as the governor despite being the constitutional head of the province was not vested with any authority in relation to the general elections as had been presumed in the impugned judgment passed on Feb 10.

He pointed out that the question as to how can the governor be part of the consultative process in relation to the general election had not been answered in the judgment passed by the single judge.

He argued that the impugned judgments suffered from gross misinterpretation of the provisions of the Constitution and all other applicable laws.

He asked the court to allow the appeal of the governor and set aside the Feb 10 judgment.

Justice Jawad Hassan of the LHC had ordered the ECP to immediately announce the date of elections to the Punjab Assembly after consultation with the governor, in his capacity as the constitutional head of the province, to ensure that polls were held not later than 90 days as per the mandate of the Constitution.

The judge had allowed petitions of PTI and Munir Ahmad seeking directions for the governor and the ECP to immediately announce a date for general elections in the province, since the assembly had been dissolved.

The judge ruled that article 219(d) of the Constitution provides that the “ECP” is charged with the duty of “the holding of general elections to the National Assembly, provincial assemblies and the local governments.”

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2023