Supreme Court moved against CCI decision for holding elections on new census

• Caretaker CMs are not eligible to sit in CCI meeting, says SBCA.
• Primary function of the caretakers is to hold elections, it says. 
• Entire exercise is being conducted to delay polls, states lawyers' body.  

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Wednesday filed a petition in the top court seeking its orders for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce a date for polls to the national and provincial assemblies as per Article 224(2) of the Constitution.

In its petition, the top lawyers’ body pleaded with the Supreme Court to suspend the August 5 decision of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

In the first week of this month, the CCI “unanimously” approved the 7th Population and Housing Census results, making it almost certain that the general elections — which were to be held in November after the dissolution of the National Assembly on August 9 — would not be held during the current year.

‘Punjab, KP were not represented in CCI meeting’

Raising questions over the decision made in the August 5 meeting of the CCI and SCBA said that the interim chief ministers were not eligible to sit in the meeting.

“The meeting of the Respondent No. 2 [CCI] took place on 05.08.2023, in the presence of the prime minister, the chief ministers of Sindh and Balochistan, the caretaker chief ministers of the Respondents No. 3 (Punjab) and 4 [KP] and other federal ministers,” read the petition.

The SBCA argued that under the Constitution and the Election Act, 2017, the primary function of the caretaker government is to hold elections in accordance with the law and does not exercise complete powers exercised by duly elected chief ministers, hence, the interim chief ministers of Punjab and KP not being duly elected chief ministers, were not eligible to sit in the meeting.

In the meeting, the report regarding the new digital census was presented and unanimously approved. Hence, Punjab and KP were not represented in the CCI meeting held on August 5 when the impugned decision was passed.

Seeking the apex court’s intervention, the SBCA stated that the delayed approval of the digital census 2023 less than a week prior to the dissolution of the national and two provincial assemblies has created a constitutional dilemma.

The lawyers’ body was of the view that since the National Assembly (NA) has been dissolved on August 9, the general elections will have to take place within 90 days of dissolution, under Article 224 (2) of the Constitution.

According to the petition, the ECP cannot initiate the process of delimitation under the Election Act, 2017 as well as Rule(s) 7 and 8 of the Election Rules, 2017 as there is no seat allocation based on the impugned decision as delimitation of constituencies of the NA can only be carried out after allocation of seats on the basis of the last preceding census.

“Since no seats have been allocated on the basis of the impugned decision, the same cannot be implemented for the upcoming general election for the NA,” read the petition.

The SBCA stated that the August 5 decision of the CCI was not only “illegal” but also a violation of Article 224 (2) of the Constitution.

“That the entire exercise is being conducted to delay the constitutionally mandated period for holding the elections,” read the petition.

The lawyers’ body also said that "our Constitution is based on the principle of parliamentary democracy and without timely elections, the entire democratic system comes to a halt".