ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top judge took notice of the delay in elections in Pakistan's Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces on Wednesday, as political uncertainty in the South Asian country continues to rise with no clarity on when polls would be held in the two provinces.
In an attempt to force the government to hold early national elections, former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party dissolved the provincial assembly in Punjab on January 14, and a few days later, its government in the northwestern KP province. Both regions account for more than half of the country's 220 million population.
Under Pakistani law, fresh polls for the two provincial assemblies should be held within 90 days, and Khan's PTI is gambling on the national government being unable to afford to hold the provincial elections separately from a national election, which is otherwise due by October.
President Arif Alvi, earlier this week, announced April 9 as the date for elections in KP and Punjab. He accused the governors of both provinces of delaying the elections, adding that it was his constitutional duty to announce polls in such an instance. The government, however, said Alvi did not have the right to take such a call.
Senior members of the government, most notably Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, have said it is the government's "wish" to hold both elections at the same time. Adding to the prevailing uncertainty, the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) consultations with the attorney general and legal experts to decide on a date for general elections in both provinces ended inconclusively on Wednesday.
In his notice, the chief justice announced the formation of a nine-member bench that would consider who has the constitutional authority and responsibility to determine the date of elections when provincial assemblies are dissolved.
"Who has the constitutional responsibility and authority for appointing the date for the holding of a general election to a Provincial Assembly, upon its dissolution in the various situations envisaged by and under the Constitution," Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial wrote in the notice. He said this would be among a few other questions that the bench would consider during the hearings slated to begin on Thursday.
He said the bench would also try to determine how and when is the constitutional responsibility to appoint the date to be discharged and in the current scenario, what would the responsibilities of the center and the provinces be.
The nine judges on the bench are the chief justice himself, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, as per the notice.
