ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial Tuesday said the decision to postpone polls in Punjab was penned in haste by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The CJP passed the remark after the Supreme Court resumed the hearing on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) petition challenging the ECP decision on the Punjab elections.
During the hearing, Justice Jamal Mandokhail asked the ECP what would become of the date for the election if its decision for delaying the vote was revoked.
The hearing was then postponed till 11:30am today (Wednesday). A day after a scathing dissenting note from Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail on the March 1 verdict on Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa polls, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial remarked that it was their “opinion” and had no link with the ongo-ing case.
CJP Bandial is heading the five-member larger bench hearing the plea. Apart from the CJP, the bench includes Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.
The Imran Khan-led party had challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to defer the Punjab polls till October 8.
The electoral body’s announcement came after financial and security authorities expressed their inability to support the electoral process.
Following this, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Haji Ghulam Ali also urged the electoral body to hold general elections on the same date (October 8) as the Punjab polls given the growing security threats from terror groups operating from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border regions. –Agencies
