Case on election date ‘unnecessarily’ brought to Supreme Court: Chief Justice of Pakistan

Islamabad [Pakistan], November 5 (ANI): Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa has said that a decision on the date for general elections has been “unnecessarily” brought to the court, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. He stressed that the decision regarding the polls should have been made by Pakistan’s President and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Justice Isa made the observation in the order of Friday’s hearing on petitions seeking a date for the general elections. In the verdict issued on Saturday, Chief Justice of Pakistan said, “A matter which should have been dealt with by the President and the ECP was quite unnecessarily brought to this Court.”

He said that the court was “full aware” of its constitutional jurisdiction and was “careful not to encroach on the jurisdiction of the President, nor that of the ECP.” On Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered the electoral watchdog to take a decision on the election date in consultation with the president, Dawn reported.

Later that day, the ECP delegation, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja, held a meeting with Pakistan President Arif Alvi and agreed on holding general elections on February 8. The court raised questions about how the affairs of the state were being run, according to Dawn report.

The court noted that the Pakistan President has been named as a “respondent” in one of the three petitions, along with a screenshot of his post shared on X where he sought the views of the ECP on the issue.

In its order, the court said freedom of the press granted under Article 19 of the Constitution has been misused to spread disinformation. The judgement stated, “But some have construed this freedom as a licence to disinform and build a false narrative, and do so to undermine democracy,” while acknowledging the role of the media, according to Dawn report.

Qazi Faez Isa said that the PEMRA bans content that ‘incites or condones dislodgment of democratic setup against the command of the Constitution, adding that decreased confidence in democracy “diminishes people’s engagement with it and suppresses voter turnout as well as threatens the freedom of thought.”

Pakistan has been dealing with political uncertainty since Imran Khan’s government was ousted through a no-confidence motion in April 2022.

Following that, the Shehbaz Sharif-led government dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, while the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies were also prematurely dissolved to allow the electoral authority to hold elections in the country within 90 days, Geo News reported.

However, the ECP decided against holding polls within the desired time as the Council of Common Interest (CCI), days before the dissolution of the assemblies, approved the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023.

The CCI approval made it mandatory for the commission to hold elections following fresh delimitations, according to Geo News.

Following this, the ECP on August 17 announced the schedule of new delimitations to be carried out as per the new census approved by the CCI. However, it further announced that the general elections in the country would be held in the last week of January 2024.