A three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, has begun hearing a plea by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) order suspending the appointment of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) from the bureaucracy, ARY News reported on Friday.
To ensure that polls take place on time, the ECP has filed a petition in the apex court, with major political parties Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) also decided to become parties in the case.
A three-member bench comprising CJP Qazi Faez Isa, Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Sardar Tariq Masood was formed for the hearing which has begun.
In the petition, the electoral watchdog has prayed to Supreme Court to declare LHC’s verdict “null and void” and ensure that its order on staging general elections on Feb 8 is followed.
The top court’s staff returned despite the ending of their day, while Court Room No 1 was also opened, after the electoral body decided to file the appeal against LHC order. On Wednesday night, Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Ali Baqir Najafi suspended an ECP decision to appoint election staff, including returning officers (ROs), from the bureaucracy.
Accepting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea, LHC Justice Najafi suspended the ECP’s notification and referred the case to the LHC chief justice, recommending constituting a larger bench to hear the case.
The high court order, which came in response to petitions submitted by the PTI, have seemingly brought the electoral process to a standstill, causing widespread concern among political parties regarding general elections, scheduled for Feb 8, 2024
