Pakistan: Top court to hear plea today on holding elections nationwide at once

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 5 (ANI): A petition demanding that elections be held nationwide on the same day will be heard by a three-member Supreme Court bench on Friday, reported Geo News.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial will hear the case today.
The CJP will preside over the bench, which also includes Justices Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Munib Akhtar.

Sardar Kashif Khan, a citizen, named the federal government, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and significant political parties as respondents in his appeal.

The petition claims that holding the general elections for the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies concurrently rather than separately would be “in the interests of justice and equity,” Geo News reported.

Additionally, holding elections concurrently would result in billions of rupees in savings, and the costs could be accounted for in the budget for the following year.

The petition said that while elections for the National, Sindh, and Balochistan assemblies would be held using the most recent census data, those for the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies will be held using the findings of the 2017 census.

It advised that such a circumstance be avoided because it might potentially result in unanticipated consequences.

Earlier in an order on April 4, the Pakistan Supreme Court also directed the federal government to release Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 21 billion in funds for the ECP by April 10 and give security for the polls. However, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government has refused to release funds for the elections as the country’s parliament rejected the proposal.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Defence Ministry has filed a petition in the apex court requesting the court to take back its order of conducting elections on May 14. The case is being heard in the Supreme Court, as per a Geo news report. (ANI)