ISLAMABAD, Apr 03 (EW): The Supreme Court (SC) will today take up the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) election case amid the “no confidence” expressed by the ruling coalition in the three-member bench.
The bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umer Ata Bandial — will take up the suo motu as well as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) petition challenging the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for postponing the Punjab election to October 8.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) the other day expressed dissatisfaction with the bench hearing the matter and urged for the formation of a full court.
During the last hearing, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, as well as the Pakistan Bar Council, had requested the court to constitute a full court for hearing the matter.
The CJP-led bench, however, rejected the government’s request.
The court had summoned the secretary of finance and secretary of defence for today.
On Friday, the apex court gave time to the AGP to submit a reply to the questions put to him on the financial and security issues raised by the Election Commission.
On the other hand, PTI has slammed the government for “attacking” the Constitution and fired a broadside at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stating that the party has decided to pressurise the country’s top court.
Speaking to the media in Karachi on Sunday, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the ruling coalition’s decision to file a reference against three SC judges was a signal to pressurise them.
It seems like the decision to file the reference has been made, he added.
PDM may boycott proceedings
Meanwhile, the counsel representing the PDM will chalk out a strategy together with the attorney general in the SC at 9am today, before the commencement of the hearing in the matter.
Kamran Murtaza, counsel for the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), told The News that they will argue before the court after receiving instructions from the PDM leadership.
He said the leadership will decide whether they should boycott the proceedings of the court or not.
As the court has already declined to constitute a full court bench, therefore, it will be decided whether the proceedings should be boycotted or not, he added.
Govt to again request for full court
Highly-placed sources told The News Sunday evening that AGP Awan will submit before the three-member bench that the parties included in the ruling alliance did not trust the bench and for this reason, the matter should be taken up by a full court bench.
In case the plea is not granted by the chief justice, the AGP would beg to leave the case and inform the court about the decision of the ruling alliance to boycott the proceedings.
In principle, the objection would be raised on behalf of three major parties of the ruling alliance — PML-N, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and JUI-F.
The component parties of the ruling alliance sought acknowledgment as respondents at the initial stage but till the last hearing, they were not accepted as a party by the court.
