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PTI to Move Supreme Court against Postponing of Polls in Punjab

In press conference, party leaders claim ECP has ‘breached’ Constitution by delaying polls from April 30 to Oct. 8

by Staff Report

File photo of Chaudhry Fawad Hussain

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Thursday announced that his party will challenge in the Supreme Court the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s postponing of general elections in Punjab from April 30 to Oct. 8.

On Wednesday night, the ECP had announced it was postponing the polls in Punjab—announced in compliance with a Supreme Court ruling—over a restive security situation and insufficient funds, stressing that it could not ensure free and fair polls in the prevailing scenario. The PTI had immediately lashed out at the development, with Fawad saying on Twitter that ECP members were liable to be tried under Article 6 for exceeding the 90-day limit for elections after the dissolution of an assembly.

In a press conference alongside PTI Secretary General Asad Umar, he said the party would file a plea before the apex court over the ECP “breaching” the Constitution. “There is no other option but to hold elections on April 30,” he said, adding the petition would call for elections to be held as per the previously announced schedule. He also slammed efforts by the government to “attack” the Supreme Court, claiming this week’s joint sitting of Parliament served no other purpose.

“Judges are being blackmailed and pressured,” he claimed, adding that the PTI and “millions of Pakistanis” supported the judiciary’s efforts. “It is your duty to save the Constitution,” he said in an appeal to the judges of the Supreme Court. To a question, he also claimed that the PTI was ready to talk about elections with the government.

Umar, meanwhile, said the ECP’s postponing of polls in Punjab was against the orders of the apex court. Demanding that elections take place on April 30, he claimed that the high courts of Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore had all maintained that the ECP could not change the election date.

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