LHC orders ECP to hold elections in Punjab within 90 days

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan immediately announce the date for elections in Punjab.

The LHC mandated that the ECP was required to hold elections within 90 days of the assembly’s dissolution and that it should provide the election calendar in response to a PTI plea seeking the declaration of a date for elections.

On Thursday, the LHC asked the Election Commission of Pakistan and Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman — who are respondents in the plea — to submit their respective replies today.

Since the Punjab legislature was dissolved on January 12, the PTI has petitioned the LHC on January 27 to provide directives directing the governor to promptly set a date for the province’s elections. The dates of the elections between April 9 and April 17 have been suggested by the ECP.

During today’s hearing, Inspector General of Punjab Police, Dr Usman Anwar and the chief secretary appeared before the court, assuring the court that they will follow whatever the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decides. 

The commission’s counsel raised objections to the admissibility of the petition, saying the plea pertained to an announcement of the election date, which he said was not the domain of the ECP.

He argued that the commission could not be made a respondent in the plea.

The counsel said the LHC had itself stated that it would not issue an order whose implementation was complex.

At this, the PTI’s lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar said that they made the Election Commission a party to the case by amending the petition. Upon hearing this, the ECP lawyer said that the president was yet to be made party to the case.

When he spoke, Punjab governor’s lawyer Shehzad Shaukat said he had submitted a written reply to the court on behalf of his client.

In his reply yesterday, the governor said that he was not obligated to announce a date for the general election in the province as he had not dissolved the provincial assembly on the chief minister’s advice.

The governor had said he never dissolved the provincial assembly in terms of Article 112 of the Consti­tution; therefore, the provisions of Articles 105(3) and 224, which deal with the announcement of a date for election by the governor, would not apply in the case at hand.

According to Barrister Ali Zafar, an attorney for PTI, it is expressly stated in the Constitution that elections must take place 90 days after the dissolution of the parliament.

Justice Hassan inquired as to the standards for announcing the election date.

Barrister Zafar said a notification had to be issued carrying a date of the election.