The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued the election schedule for the February 8 polls after the Supreme Court quashed a lower court's decision on staying the appointment of district returning officers, returning officers and assistant returning officers from the executive, which would have possibly delayed the upcoming elections, Dawn reported.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday, acting on a petition filed by imprisoned former PM Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) - decided to suspend the appointment of bureaucrats as Returning Officers, leading to uncertainty over Pakistan's upcoming elections. LHC's order, in defiance of the apex court's orders - prompted the electoral body to pause the training session for returning officers and district returning officers.
The High Court's order created a furore among major political parties like the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and the ECP approached the Supreme Court in an attempt seen as preventing a possible delay in the elections. Leaders from both PPP and PML-N blamed Khan and his PTI for delaying the polls.
Supreme Court quashes LHC order
A visibly disturbed Supreme Court suspended LHC's December 13 order in an urgent hearing of the matter, regretting that the earlier verdict was made in "haste" and questioned the "bona fide" nature of the PTI petition. "Accordingly in the given circumstances and considering the constitutional and legal stipulation, the judgement of the LHC is hereby suspended,” said an order by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa.
The Supreme Court also issued notice to PTI’s additional secretary general Umair Niazi, who had approached the LHC, requiring him to explain why action should not be initiated against him under contempt of court for disregarding the Supreme Court's judgement on November 3, when it was decided that the elections would be held on the stipulated time.
The top court regretted that the LHC judge, who suspended the appointment of DROs, ROs and AROs, had acted in haste disregarding the fact that all the chief justices of high courts had refused to lend judicial officers for the conduct of elections. As such, the Pakistan Supreme Court directed the ECP to issue the election schedule by Friday night.
The CJP further observed that the LHC judge had passed the order for the whole of Pakistan, beyond his territorial jurisdiction and without referring to the Supreme Court’s judgement. He also said that the petitioner should be well aware of the law and the Supreme Court's position on the November 3 verdict which says, "No one should be allowed on any pretext to derail democracy.."
Election schedule issued by ECP
According to the ECP's notification, the nominations by the candidates can be filed with the Returning Officers (ROs) from December 20-22. The names of the nominated candidates would be published on December 23 and the scrutiny of their documents would be held from December 24-30.
The last date for filing appeals against the RO’s decisions on rejecting or accepting nomination papers will be January 3 and the final date for deciding the appeals of candidates by an appellate tribunal will be January 10. The revised list of candidates will be published on January 11 and the last date for withdrawing one’s candidature is January 12. The election symbols will be allotted to political parties on January 13 with polls set for February 8.
Notably, the Pakistan National Assembly had 342 seats-- 272 of which are directly elected, 60 are reserved for women, and 10 for religious minorities. According to the country's constitution, at least 70 seats reserved for women and religious minorities are allocated to the political parties as per their proportional representation.
After fresh delimitation, the National Assembly (NA) would consist of 336 seats, including 266 general seats, 60 seats reserved for women, and 10 for non-Muslims, a decrease of six seats overall.
(with inputs from PTI)
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