Islamabad (Web Desk): The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday suspended Lahore High Court’s (LHC) verdict against appointment of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) from the bureaucracy.
In its ruling, the top court has also ordered the ECP to issue election schedule tonight.
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Sardar Tariq Masood heard the petition.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) challenging the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) order suspending the appointment of ROs and DROs from the bureaucracy.
At the outset of hearing, the CJP said he hoped that the elections will take place on February 8, 2024. In response, the ECP’s counsel, Shakeel Swati, stated that they are making every effort to ensure this happens.
Addressing the ECP’s lawyer, the CJP said, “I missed my flight. How are you going to compensate this? Nevertheless, we’re hearing the case in this court.”
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah asked who approached the LHC. To which ECP’s lawyer explained that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had filed the petition.
“Does the PTI not want elections to happen in the country,” the CJP asked.
Justice Isa said do the high courts have the right to appoint ROs and DROs. The ECP’s lawyer mentioned that the Islamabad High Court did not appoint ROs and DROs, adding that the LHC Chief Justice dismissed their plea by saying that there are 1.3 million pending cases.
The ECP’s lawyer stated that PTI’s Additional Secretary General Umair Niazi had approached the LHC and challenged Sections 50 and 51 of the Election Act.
“We will issue a contempt of court notice to Umair Niazi,” the CJP remarked. “We made our decision [on election] based on the petition of the same PTI.”
He said that Umair Niazi has de-railed democracy in Pakistan. "Check whether Umair Niazi is a lawyer or not. It seems the intention was never to let elections happen in the country."
The CJP grilled the ECP for not issuing the schedule of the polls yet, saying that why the training for ROs and DROs was halted.
Meanwhile, major political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), decided to become a party in the case being heard by the LHC.
The development comes a day after the ECP suspended the ongoing training of ROs and DROs in compliance with the orders of LHC.
An ECP spokesperson on Thursday stated that the LHC suspended the electoral body's notification dated December 11, 2023, related to the appointment of 142 District Returning Officers (DROs), 859 Assistant Returning Officers (AROs), and Returning Officers from the executive for the upcoming General Elections 2024.
LHC's Justice Ali Baqir Najafi had Wednesday night ruled on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) plea, which contended that the electoral body's move to appoint DROs and ROs from bureaucracy would hinder the prospects of impartial and transparent elections.
Accepting the PTI's plea, Justice Najafi suspended the ECP's notification and referred the matter to referred the case to the LHC chief justice, recommending constituting a larger bench to hear the case.