Maintains Election Commission of Pakistan bound to obey and implement the judgements of the apex court
ISLAMABAD
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday filed a petition in the Supreme Court, pleading with the court to order the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governor to announce the date of the elections.
The development comes a day after a three-member bench of the top court set aside an order of the Election Commission of Pakistan to put off the polls in Punjab, ordering elections on May 14. The apex court had ruled that it would look into the matter related to polls in KP if any petition is filed in this regard.
The petition, filed by KP Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ghani, pleaded with the apex court to order the governor to give the date of the elections nearest to the period of 90 days. “The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should be directed to issue the election schedule as soon as it gets the date,” it demanded.
“All the federal and provincial institutions should be ordered to support the ECP for the elections,” it added. The ECP and the KP governor had been made respondents in the petition.
“The KP governor is not complying with March 1 court order. He had announced May 28 as the date of the elections on media but later retracted,” it stated. “According to the Constitution, elections are necessary within 90 days.
The KP governor is defying the court order,” it maintained. Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed to approach the relevant forum for the KP elections.
