PTI petitions Supreme Court for elections within 90 days of NA dissolution

• PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub files petition under Article 184(3).
• Petition seeks PBS' notification of census 2023 be declared illegal.
• PTI requests SC to order president to announce polls date.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI) moved the Supreme Court (SC) seeking its directives to hold general elections in the country within 90 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, The News reported.

The petitioner, who is PTI's Secretary General Omar Ayyub, requests the apex court to direct President Arif Alvi to give a date for the polls and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue an election schedule accordingly.

The petition filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution prays to declare as illegal and void ab initio the decision of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) dated August 5, 2023, approving the census.

It is pertinent to mention that this is the second petition filed with the apex court. Earlier, Supreme Court Bar Association President Abid S Zubairi had filed the same petition in the apex court.

Filed through Barrister Ali Zafar, the petition also seeks that the notification by the Bureau of Statistics dated August 8, 2023, be declared illegal, unlawful, and void ab initio, while the delimitation exercise proposed to be taken by the ECP, dated August 17, 2023, be declared illegal, unlawful, and void ab initio as well.

“Section 57(1) of the Election Act, 2017, providing that the date of elections is to be fixed by the ECP may be declared to be ultra vires the Constitution and being contrary to Articles 48(5)(a), 58(1), 105(3)(a), 112(1), and 224,” wherein it is stated that the president or governor is to set the date of elections after dissolution by them on the advice of the prime minister or chief minister, the PTI further prayed.

The PTI has made the ECP, the federation, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the Council of Common Interest (CCI), the chief secretaries of Punjab, Khyber, Sindh, Balochistan, and other respondents.

The PTI further prayed to the apex court that the Sindh governor may also be required to announce the date of elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the Sindh Assembly and the ECP be directed to issue the election schedule accordingly, and same for the Balochistan province.

Meanwhile, the elections to the Punjab and KPK assemblies may be held according to the judgments of this court and within a time frame fixed by the court, it added.

The PTI submitted that, vexatiously, the census is being used by the ECP as an excuse to delay the elections to the National Assembly, as shown by the ECP in its reply dated August 24, 2023, to the letter of the president dated August 23, 2023.