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The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) sprung into action on Thursday after the top court directed it to confer with President Arif Alvi on the date for general elections.<\/p>\n
A delegation headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja met the president at the Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad. Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan was also present for the meeting.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa had directed the ECP to confer with Alvi on the poll date after the electoral body said that elections would be held on February 11.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet the ECP meet with the President of Pakistan today and the date for holding general elections in Pakistan be appointed,\u201d the top judge said in a written order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com<\/em>.<\/p>\n He directed AGP Awan to arrange the meeting, provide Alvi with the court order and be available to render assistance. \u201cWe expect that the matter of appointing a date for holding general elections shall be settled, and this court will be informed tomorrow (Nov 3),\u201d Justice Isa added.<\/p>\n The order was issued after a three-judge bench comprising the CJP, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and Justice Athar Minallah heard a set of petitions calling for holding elections within 90 days after the dissolution of the National Assembly and the provincial legislatures.<\/p>\n At the previous hearing, the court had issued notices<\/a> to the election commission and the federal government for their input on polls within 90 days.<\/p>\n During today\u2019s hearing, Justice Isa sought a clear stance from the electoral body on polls to which the ECP lawyer said there was a 54-day schedule after the delimitation process \u2014 to be completed by Nov 30.<\/p>\n \u201cAll arrangements including the drawing of constituencies will be completed by Jan 29,\u201d Sajeel Swati said, adding that the final list of constituencies will be published on Dec 5.<\/p>\n He told the court that the electoral body had been looking to hold polls on a Sunday for the ease of the public. \u201cWe have decided that elections will be held on Feb 11, which is the second Sunday,\u201d the lawyer added.<\/p>\n CJP Isa asked the ECP if President Arif Alvi was taken on board in the matter to which Swati said \u201cwe are not bound to take the president on board\u201d.<\/p>\n This drew the chief justice\u2019s ire. \u201cBoth the president and ECP are Pakistanis. Why is the ECP hesitant to consult with the president?\u201d he asked and then directed the electoral body to discuss the matter with Alvi.<\/p>\n After a half-hour recess in the hearing, Swati told the SC that the ECP would be consulting with the president today. \u201cKnock his door even if he doesn\u2019t call you,\u201d Justice Isa said and then instructed AGP Awan to stay on board during the consultation.<\/p>\n Subsequently, the CJP, while dictating the order of the proceedings in the case, said that the election date given would have to be implemented. \u201cSC wants polls to be held without any arguments,\u201d the top judge said, adding that the court only wanted a solution to the issue and didn\u2019t want to get stuck in any technicalities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe final date for polls will be announced from the Supreme Court,\u201d Justice Isa announced, adding that after this petitions regarding any delays won\u2019t be entertained.<\/p>\n Later, Secretary Omar Hamid Khan confirmed to Geo News<\/em> that the consultation with the president will be taking place \u201cshortly\u201d.<\/p>\n In a media talk outside SC, PPP lawyer Farooq H. Naek said: \u201cWhatever has happened [has happened]. The elections should have taken place in 90 days, but now that the date is in, parliamentarians should move a constitutional amendment to Article 254 to validate this date (Feb 11).<\/p>\n \u201cSo no one can say tomorrow that the elections were not held within the 90-day mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n Article 254 of the Constitution states that \u201cwhen anything is required to be done within a particular period but is not, the carrying out of that act or thing does not become invalid or ineffective just because it was not done within the prescribed period\u201d.<\/p>\n When asked whether the president is bound to consult the ECP, Naek said: \u201cMy view is that the president of Pakistan is not at all obligated to consult the ECP [for the election date]. He has been granted authority and at most \u2013 if he has to consult anyone \u2014 under Article 48(1), he can consult the prime minister.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that letter that he wrote \u2014 in my opinion \u2014 was unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, speaking to DawnNewsTV<\/em> following the development, former ECP secretary Kanwar Dilshad said the ECP would complete its delimitations by Nov 30 and may issue the schedule by mid-December.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a very good, constitutional and legal decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n When asked whether this can be considered the definitive date, he said: \u201cECP is bound to follow the guidelines of the SC. It was a major decision to announce the date to the court and it would be impossible to walk back from it now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFeb 11 is a Sunday and the weather will be better. Some political parties have raised concerns over the snow and fog. So by the first week of Feb, most of it dissipates,\u201d Dilshad added.<\/p>\n He added that after the Feb 11 polls, Senate elections will likely be held on March 5-6. \u201cAnd by my estimates, the president will be elected after March 15-16,\u201d the former secretary said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, PPP\u2019s Shazia Marri termed today\u2019s announcement a \u201cvictory of democracy, a victory of the Constitution\u201d, saying that \u201cthe PPP is the only party that has been demanding an election date.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, this isn\u2019t an announcement \u2014 it emerged during court questioning. I urge the ECP to announce the date properly,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n At the outset of the hearing today, Naek appeared in the apex court and requested to become a respondent in the case. He was given a green light from the judges after PTI\u2019s Barrister Ali Zafar said he had no objections to the request.<\/p>\n Zafar then began presenting his arguments and contended that polls should be held within 90 days. However, CJP Isa said, \u201cYour request for polls within 90 days has now become ineffective.\u201d<\/p>\n The PTI lawyer insisted that his argument was connected with a fundamental right, to which Justice Isa asked if the former just wanted elections now. Zafar replied in the affirmative.<\/p>\n \u201cWill anyone oppose it?\u201d the chief justice asked. In his reply, the PTI counsel said no. The CJP then asked Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan if he had any objections to polls, to which the latter also replied in the negative.<\/p>\n Continuing his arguments, Zafar said Articles 58 (Dissolution of the National Assembly) and 224 (Time of election and by-election) could be read. \u201cWithout elections, neither can the Parliament run nor can laws be formed,\u201d he contended.<\/p>\n He went on to say that there was a difference between giving a schedule for elections and announcing the poll date, adding that giving the election date was also mentioned in the Constitution.<\/p>\n \u201cThe law ministry believes that the president cannot give a date for polls,\u201d Zafar stated. He highlighted that as per the 90-day deadline, elections should be held on Nov 7.<\/p>\n It must be noted President Dr Arif Alvi had written a letter<\/a> to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on September 13 wherein he proposed that elections be held by November 6.<\/p>\n However, the Ministry of Law and Justice had Alvi had later informed<\/a> Alvi that the powers to announce the poll date rested with the ECP, not the president.<\/p>\n During the hearing today, Justice Minallah asked why it took the president so long to write the letter to the ECP. On the other hand, the chief justice noted that the text of the said letter was \u201cvague\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cDid the president approach us for an opinion [on the matter] from the Supreme Court?\u201d CJP Isa asked, to which Zafar said this was not the case.<\/p>\n At one point, the top judge asked the PTI counsel if he was trying to say that the president did not fulfil his constitutional responsibility. \u201cThe assembly was dissolved on Aug 9 but the president wrote the letter in September,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Justice Minallah said, \u201cThe command of the Constitution is very clear that the president had to give the date [for elections], there is no disagreement in it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhoever wants to disagree can continue doing so,\u201d Justice Isa stated, warning that the court could take a judicial notice as well. He also said that the letter could not be written on the \u201clast day\u201d.<\/p>\n For his part, Zafar said that in his opinion the president had fulfilled the responsibility.<\/p>\n Here, Justice Minallah said there wouldn\u2019t have been any objections if the president had given the election date on the day the National Assembly was dissolved.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you want from us now? Do you want us to direct the president to give a date? The president says he took advice from so and so. Can this court now issue a writ against the President?\u201d CJP Isa asked.<\/p>\n He pointed out that machinery was involved in conducting polls. \u201cCan the Supreme Court give the date for elections?\u201d the chief justice asked.<\/p>\n Justice Minallah said that Article 98 of the Constitution<\/a> was very clear on the court\u2019s role in the matter. The said law pertains to the conferring of functions on subordinate authorities.<\/p>\n \u201cDid the ECP ever say that the president should give the election date?\u201d the judge further asked.<\/p>\n Zafar replied that the electoral body had said that the authority to give the poll date lay with the ECP. He added that there was a need to look at the SC\u2019s role in the matter.<\/p>\n \u201cCan we go against the president and give a date for polls ourselves?\u201d Justice Isa asked, highlighting that the Constitution gives the apex court the authority to do so.<\/p>\n The PTI counsel said such an action had been taken before but Justice Minallah noted that the question currently under discussion was different.<\/p>\n The CJP said that holding elections was good and \u201cnot a problem\u201d. Addressing the PTI lawyer, the chief justice said: \u201cYour leader who is also the leader of the president [\u2026] why didn\u2019t he call the president and tell him to announce the election date?\u201d<\/p>\n Justice Isa also noted that the president had only mentioned the date in his letter that fell after the constitutionally stipulated 90-day period ended.<\/p>\n At one point during the hearing, Justice Khan said that Zafar\u2019s argument actually was that the president had deviated from the Constitution.<\/p>\n \u201cPrima facie the president, ECP and government are all responsible,\u201d Justice Minallah said. \u201cThe question now is what will be the result of this,\u201d he noted, adding that elections must be held on time.<\/p>\n The judge further said that every day after the prescribed 90-day period to hold polls \u201cis a violation of the Constitution\u201d.<\/p>\n As Zafar concluded his arguments, Supreme Court Bar Association chief Abid Zuberi, one of the petitioners, came to the rostrum. He said he agreed with Zafar\u2019s arguments.<\/p>\n Zuberi mentioned the SC\u2019s April 4 judgmententer link description here<\/a> in which it had declared ECP\u2019s decision to postpone polls to the Punjab Assembly as \u201cunconstitutional\u201d and had fixed May 14 as the date for polls in the province.<\/p>\n However, Justice Isa noted that the court was only concerned with general elections and wanted every institution to do its job. He also asked Zuberi if he wanted President Alvi to be charged under Article 6 of the Constitution.<\/p>\n \u201cWe only want timely elections,\u201d the SCBA chief responded.<\/p>\n The CJP continued that Zuberi was moving toward the interpretation of the Constitution which the bench could not do. \u201cThe judgment you referred to pertains to the interpretation of the Constitution,\u201d Justice Isa said, adding that nowhere in the world, except for Pakistan, court decisions could change the Constitution.<\/p>\n When PPP\u2019s Naek came to the rostrum, he said the president shouldn\u2019t have written the letter to ECP, highlighting that the president gave the date for polls after which the electoral body released a schedule.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president was responsible for giving a date to hold polls within 90 days,\u201d the lawyer added.<\/p>\n Here, the CJP pointed out that 90 days had not passed yet while Justice Minallah asked if the PPP had objected to the census during the Council of Common Interests.<\/p>\n No, Naek replied. \u201cEveryone, including the PPP, is responsible for delay in polls,\u201d Justice Minallah said and then suggested to hear the ECP counsel first.<\/p>\n\u2018Constitutional and legal decision\u2019<\/h2>\n
Today\u2019s hearing<\/h2>\n
Election delay<\/h2>\n