ISLAMABAD: Enco­ur­a­ged by the top court’s judgement regarding the Punjab Assembly elections, the PTI on Thursday approached the Supreme Court to seek elections in the province within the 90-day period.

On April 4, the Supreme Court allowed the petitioner to approach any forum as deemed appropriate for seeking relief for the conduct of elections in KP since the matter was not adjudicated upon.

The court, however, had fixed May 14 as the date for the Punjab Assembly elections after quashing the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification that fixed Oct 8 as the election date.

As a consequence, the fresh joint petition was moved by PTI Secretary General Asad Umar, former KP Assembly speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, former KP chief minister Mahmood Khan and a number of former cabinet members through their counsel Barrister Syed Ali Zafar and Gohar Khan. The ECP, ministries of interior, law and finance, the KP governor, and the chief secretary were made respondents in the petition.

The petition challenged the poll day announcement by the governor on Oct 8, stating the entire exercise was contrary to the clear mandate of the Constitution and thus amounted to depriving the petitioners and citizens of their fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 17 to participate in elections.

The petition emphasised that the reasons given by the governor and the ECP regarding the unavailability of finances and the non-conducive law and order situation in the country to hold elections was legally flawed and a disingenuous excuse to delay the elections.

It added if such a power was given to the governor or the ECP on the pretext of the law and order situation then that would mean elections could be delayed indefinitely and forever, which was not warranted.

“What is the assurance that the security situation in the country will improve by the arbitrary date of Oct 8 as fixed by the governor,” the petition wondered, fearing that the postponement of the provincial elections by six months would further deteriorate the security situation.

“Under Articles 148 (3) and 220 of the Constitution as well as Section 50 of the Elections Act 2017, it is the responsibility of the federal, provincial governments and all executive authorities…to ensure that elections are held in 90 days regardless of any prevailing law and order situation,” it added.

According to the petition, it was the responsibility of the federal and provincial governments to arrange funds for holding the elections on a priority basis to the exclusion of all other matters.

In fact, the government was also obligated to provide the necessary security for polls, the petition maintained.

“If law and order can be made an excuse for delaying election then such a precedent would become a legal mandate for caretaker governments…to extend their period and tenure by insisting that they are unable to provide the security…, the petition said.

Moreover, the excuse of law and order would mean that the Constitution can always be held in abeyance on this ground every time the elections are due, the petition added.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2023