Awami Muslim League (AML) Chairman Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has urged the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) delaying the Punjab Assembly elections until October this year.
On Wednesday, the ECP had announced that elections in the province would be delayed until October 8 on the grounds that it could not conduct transparent and peaceful polls on the scheduled date of April 30. In an eight-page order, the ECP said that it could not hold the election “honestly, justly and fairly in a peaceful manner due to security threats [and] in the absence of funds” and being unable to provide “level-playing field” to all political parties. Subsequently, the ECP withdrew its notification regarding the Punjab elections and postponed the voting for the provincial assembly until October 8, 2023, adding that a fresh election schedule would be announced in due course. On Thursday, Sheikh Rashid dispatched a letter to the top court through advocate Azhar Siddique, mentioning that on March 1, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that elections for the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies should be held within the stipulated period of 90 days. However, the ECP proposed dates between April 30 and May 7, with President Dr Arif Alvi announcing that Punjab elections would be held on April 30. He said that the ECP’s order is a violation of the Supreme Court’s clear judgment.
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