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ISLAMABAD: The Shehbaz Sharif-led federal government filed a miscellaneous petition with the Supreme Court on Monday asking the court to convene a new panel of judges who did not hear the case involving the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election suo motu notice to supervise the ongoing polls delay issue.
According to details made available with MM News, an application for the formation of a new bench was filed by the federal government through Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan.
The Attorney General in the petition requested the three-member bench, which consists of Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, to recuse themselves from hearing the case.
The petition was filed shortly before the scheduled hearing of the case, which includes a suo motu and a petition by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) challenging the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan to postpone the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa until October 8.
This came after reports that AGP Awan planned to tell the three-member bench that the parties in the ruling alliance have no faith in the bench, and therefore the case should be heard by a full court bench.
As per government’s strategy, if the plea is not granted by the chief justice, the AGP will request to withdraw from the case and inform the court of the ruling alliance’s decision to boycott the proceedings.