LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to submit progress report on a matter pertaining to announcement of a date for holding elections in Punjab.
LHC judge Justice Jawad Hassan took up a petition seeking contempt of court proceedings against the ECP and Governor Punjab Balighur Rehman for not announcing a date for elections in the province despite the dissolution of the assembly.
On February 13, a citizen had filed contempt of court petition with Lahore High Court (LHC) against failure to announce the date of the election in Punjab despite the court’s order, stating that despite the court’s order to immediately announce the election schedule in Punjab, the ECP failed in doing so.
Also read: Failure to announce election date: Contempt petition filed against Governor, ECP
During the outset of proceedings today, LHC judge Justice Jawad Hassan asked petitioner Azhar Siddique as to why was he in a hurry. “Don’t you don’t have trust in judiciary,” Justice Jawad questioned while expressing surprise how his pleas were fixed for early hearings.
He said the high court had issued its order in the election date case and was now waiting for the response from the ECP. The petitioner said the governor had excused himself from announcing a date. Justice Jawad said the election commission had 20 days to file an appeal against the LHC verdict.
During the hearing, the federal government lawyer told the judge that the ECP had called a meeting today, adding that the electoral body also held consultation with the governor in light of the court orders.
