Pak Court Orders Poll Body To Issue February 8 General Election Schedule

Pakistan's Supreme Court late on Friday suspended an order by the Lahore High Court on the appointment of bureaucrats as Returning Officers, a ruling that led to uncertainty over the much-awaited February 8 general elections.

The top court also ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue the poll schedule tonight to hold the general election on February 8, as already committed by the election body before the Supreme Court.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday suspended the decision of the ECP to appoint bureaucrats as Returning Officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) for the February 8 elections, prompting the poll body to pause a training session for ROs and DROs on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the LHC reserved the verdict while hearing a plea by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. On Friday, alleging that Khan's party is trying to delay the polls, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) decided to jump in the fray.

The Secretary of the ECP approached the Supreme Court to challenge the LHC ruling, and late on Friday evening, a three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, heard the appeal.

After arguments by the ECP lawyer Sajeel Swati, the bench declared the order of the LHC as of "no legal effect". "The impugned orders (of LHC) is hereby suspended," the bench stated in its order.

The court also ordered Umair Naizi, who had challenged the appointment in the LHC, to be asked to explain why the contempt of court proceedings may not be started against him as he violated the earlier orders of the Supreme Court to not interfere in the process to hold the elections on February 8.

The court also ordered the LHC to stop any further proceedings on the petition against the appointment of ROs and DROs.

In its order, the bench also announced that the ECP would issue a detailed schedule for the general election on Friday. Earlier, the court grilled the ECP for failing to announce the election schedule.

The court also announced that no one would be allowed to derail democracy or delay elections.

Dawn.com described pausing the training session for ROs and DROs as "an exercise without which polls on February 8 could be in trouble." "The high court order seemingly brought the electoral process to a standstill, causing widespread concern among political parties - including the petitioner PTI - regarding general elections," it added.

LHC's Justice Ali Baqar Najafi had said that on factual grounds, "the apparent absence of a level playing field" for the political party of the petitioner is visible to all and has also been seriously noted by many independent groups.

PML-N Central Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb posted on social media platform X: "The PML-N will be a party against the LHC's decision regarding ROs.

The party's legal team had begun preparing a petition in this regard." The PPP also announced that it would file a plea in the LHC seeking to become a party in the case, while BAP's Khalid Magsi, in a statement, said he had directed his party to prepare a petition seeking to become a party in the case, Dawn.com added.

Leaders from both PPP and PML-N blamed Khan and his PTI for delaying the polls.

"The PTI has once again tried to derail the electoral process," Dawn.com quoted the PPP leader, who also claimed, "This reflects their undemocratic and apolitical mindset. It is clear that the PTI does not want elections to be held in the country." PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal was quoted as accusing the PTI of "conspiring to sabotage elections" in the country and saying, "This proves that they can see their future, they can see defeat in polls and to save themselves from this defeat, they are trying to delay the elections." Meanwhile, an ECP official told Dawn that the announcement of the election schedule depended on the final verdict in the case related to the appointment of DROs and ROs.

"The ROs are the ones who issue public notices inviting nominations and also receive and scrutinise nomination papers. An election schedule cannot be issued in the absence of ROs, they are the ones to implement the schedule," he had said.

The unnamed ECP official also drew attention to another hurdle, which Dawn said was "the delimitation cases being remanded to the election watchdog by the high courts for reconsideration." "The official claimed that the judiciary, not the ECP, would be responsible in case elections were delayed," the official said.

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