ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet Tuesday rejected the Supreme Court’s “unanimous verdict” on the case pertaining to the postponement of election in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The development came during the cabinet’s meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, held after a three-member bench — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar as members — announced the apex court’s verdict on the matter which it had reserved a day earlier.
Announcing the verdict on a plea filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the country’s top court declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone polls in Punjab and KP from April 30 to October 8 as ‘null and void’.
The Supreme Court, in its verdict, states that the ECP’s order dated March 22, 2023, is declared to be unconstitutional, without lawful authority or jurisdiction, void ab-initio, of no legal effect, and is hereby quashed.
“The Supreme Court’s decision is a minority verdict, which is why the cabinet rejects it,” the sources in the federal cabinet said. The top court’s decision, as per the sources, is not enforceable.
The government would raise its voice in parliament regarding the verdict, the sources added. It was also decided in the meeting that the coalition parties in power will talk about the apex court’s decision in parliament, they added. In the meeting, the cabinet decided to present its position on the verdict.
In a press conference shortly after the verdict was announced, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar lamented the ruling and said the SC should have made a decision with “collective wisdom”. “The full court should have heard the case,” he added.
The minister foresaw that the “current political situation and crisis will further aggravate”.
He said ECP lawyers and other stakeholders had argued that the court should first decide on the March 1 verdict — which was “rejected 4-3 a full court should have cleared this confusion.” –Agencies
