ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order to postpone the second phase of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) local government election scheduled for March 27.
A two-member division bench of the apex court, comprising of Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, announced the verdict while hearing a petition filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) challenging the PHC order.
On February 4, the PHC Abbottabad bench had postponed the next phase of the LG elections, a decision that was welcomed by the Hazara Province Movement, which vowed to field candidates from every district and village council of the Hazara Division.
The PHC bench had issued the directions while hearing petitions contending that various districts in the province would be shut by heavy snow in March, following which the voters would struggle to reach polling stations under severe cold and through snow-covered roads.
The ECP had subsequently approached the Supreme Court against the PHC’s decision. In the hearing today, the ECP lawyer apprised the SC that the bench had postponed the LG election without listening to the electoral body’s stance.
He said the commission got the notice for the Feb 1 court hearing on Feb 2 and “the PHC bench had already conducted the hearing and announced its verdict by then.”
Justice Ayesha maintained that the PHC should have heard the ECP’s position before giving the verdict. She further observed that it was not certain that the weather conditions in K-P would hinder the electoral process.
Justice Ahsan remarked that the ECP was supposed to review the report from the meteorological department and not the court. “Why was the court so quick to decide?” the senior judge asked.
After suspending the PHC order, the court issued notices to all parties involved and adjourned the hearing till Monday (February 14).
It is pertinent to mention here that the Met office, in its letters to the ECP, had predicted snowfall and heavy rains in mountainous areas of the province in the month of March and urged the ECP to review its schedule for the polls.
