LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) accepted a plea from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and summoned the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), regarding the announcement of the polling date for the Punjab election.
The political hub of Punjab is currently governed by a caretaker government for one week, and the PTI is seeking court intervention for the polling date.
The judge of the Lahore High Court, Justice Jawad Hassan, heard a petition from the PTI party. The general secretary of PTI, Asad Umar, and other leaders, including the former speaker of the Punjab Assembly, Sibtain Khan, appeared in court.
During the proceedings, PTI’s counsel, Barrister Ali Zafar, presented his argument before the court, stating that the date of the polls must be declared after the dissolution of assemblies.
The petition said, “Under the constitution, the election should be conducted within 90 days after assembly dissolution, but the governor has not announced the date yet.”
The PTI pleaded with the court to restrict the governor from announcing the polling day.
Justice Jawad Hassan stated that the election should be held within 90 days and expressed frustration with the counsel of the governor of Punjab.
He asked, “The petition was filed 48 hours ago, why weren’t you prepared, what are the 200 law officers doing?” The court also reprimanded the lawyer of the federal government.
The court issued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan and adjourned the hearing until February 3rd, summoning the governor of Punjab to appear in court.
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