CJP Isa-led bench hears pleas seeking timely polls

View of the Supreme Court building. — APP/File

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan is conducting a hearing on the pleas calling for general elections to be conducted within the 90-day period after the dissolution of the assemblies.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faiz Isa and consisting of Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aminuddin Khan is hearing the pleas.

The pleas have been filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and others to ensure that polls in the country are conducted in a timely manner.

In the previous hearing, CJP Isa observed that it was “not possible” to meet the 90-day deadline for holding elections and lamented the lack of preparations of the petitioners.

The CJP in his written orders given in the court stated that the petitioners were contending that the census was notified as an excuse to delay the elections.

“The petitioners said that holding the election in 90 days is a constitutional requirement. According to the petitioners, elections are not possible within 90 days after the delimitation of constituencies and the census,” said the court.

He also that the bench had two questions to answer as to who was responsible for announcing the date of the polls and the other was if elections could be held within 90 days.

The court then issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the federal government in the case.

Today's hearing

At the outset of the hearing, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) counsel Farooq Naek told the court that his party had submitted the request to become a party in the case.

After this, PTI's lawyer Ali Zafar started his arguments by saying that the party has limited its petition to only seeking timely elections.

"Elections must be held within 90 days after the dissolution of assemblies as per the Constitution," he stressed.

At this, CJP Isa said that the plea seeking polls within a 90-day period has then become ineffective. "The court was told that it was impossible to hold polls within 90 days in the previous hearing," he remarked.

Zafar then said that PTI only wants elections.

This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.