INDIA

Pakistan’s Cabinet rejects Supreme Court’s verdict in Punjab election delay case

April 4, 2023

Islamabad, April 4

Pakistan’s federal Cabinet on Tuesday rejected the Supreme Court’s “unanimous verdict” on advancing the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces which were earlier postponed by the election commission.

The development came during the Cabinet’s meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial announced the apex court’s verdict on the matter which it had reserved on Monday, Geo News reported.

The bench, also comprised Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, announced the verdict on a plea filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party led by former prime minister Imran Khan and declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone polls in Punjab and KP from April 30 to October 8 as “null and void”.

The Supreme Court in its verdict said the ECP’s order dated March 22 was declared to be unconstitutional, without lawful authority or jurisdiction.

“The Supreme Court’s decision is a minority verdict, which is why the Cabinet rejects it,” the report quoted a source in the federal Cabinet as saying.

The top court’s decision, as per the source, is not enforceable.

The government would raise its voice in the parliament regarding the verdict, the source added.

Commenting on the SC decision, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice-President and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz Sharif tweeted that the verdict was the last blow of the conspiracy which began by “rewriting the Constitution and presenting the Punjab government on a plate” to the bench’s blue-eyed boy, Khan.

Maryam termed the three-member bench as “Khan’s facilitators” and said that this was done so he could be reselected under their presence and supervision.

“This bench has taken responsibility for the work done by [Lt Gen] Faiz [Hamid], [ex-CJP Asif Saeed] Khosa, and Saqib Nisar in 2018. A majority of the Supreme Court revolted against this appalling and brazen facilitation and one-man show,” the PML-N scion tweeted.