Punjab: Pakistan SC rules polls for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies must be held by April

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that elections for the provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) must be held within 90 days of their dissolution. The five-member bench, led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, gave a split 3-2 decision.
Both Punjab and KP have been under caretaker governments since the provincial assemblies were dissolved last month after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief and former prime minister Imran Khan asked his party’s CMs in the two provinces to do so, in an attempt to pave the way for snap polls.
“Parliamentary democracy is a salient feature of the constitution. There can be no parliamentary democracy without parliament or the provincial assemblies,” the verdict said, adding: “And there can be neither parliament nor provincial assemblies without the holding of general elections as envisaged, required and mandated by and under the constitution and in accordance therewith”. Pakistan routinely holds the provincial and national elections together. The general polls are due by October this year but the dissolution of Punjab and KP assemblies on January 14 and 18, respectively, have paved the way for snap polls.
The top court, in its ruling, held that in situations where a governor dissolved a provincial assembly, the constitutional responsibility of appointing a date for the election was to be discharged by the governor. “In situations where the assembly is not dissolved by the order of the governor, the constitutional responsibility of appointing a date for the general election that must follow is to be discharged by the president.”
The court stated that since elections after the dissolution of a provincial assembly were to be held within a stipulated period of time, the president or the governor “must discharge the constitutional responsibility of appointing a date for the said election swiftly and without any delay and within the shortest time possible”.
According to Pakistan’s constitution, elections must be held within 90 days after the dissolution of a provincial assembly or the National Assembly.
On February 21, president Arif Alvi had unilaterally announced April 9 as the election date in the two provinces, saying that there was “lack of clarity” on the matter. His move had triggered a constitutional crisis, with experts debating on the issue whether he (president) had the right to announce the date for polls in provinces.
Following Alvi’s call for polls, the SC took suo moto cognizance to determine which government institution had the constitutional responsibility of deciding the election dates.
The SC ruled that since the governor of Punjab, Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman, did not sign the order declaring the dissolution of the assembly, the president had the constitutional responsibility to announce the election date in the province. It further noted that KP governor Haji Ghulam Ali, despite signing the dissolution order on January 18, failed to declare a poll date, which was a “breach of his constitutional responsibility”.
Welcoming the top court’s ruling, Imran said: “It was the responsibility of the Supreme Court to uphold the constitution and they have valiantly done that through their judgement today. It is an assertion of rule of law in Pakistan.”