LAHORE, Sept 29: The Supreme Court has the authority to stay the presidential election for some period if petitions challenging the eligibility of President Pervez Musharraf to contest for another term are based on strong arguments but are not decided by the day the polling is to be held, former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui says.

He told Dawn on Saturday that if the case was properly argued, the apex court could issue an order that the next assemblies, not the outgoing ones, should elect the new president.

He said resignations of opposition legislators would not have any bearing on the presidential election, but the situation would be quite different if a provincial assembly was dissolved.

Once a provincial legislature was dissolved, he said, the electoral college for the president would be rendered incomplete and the election could not be held.

Answering a question, Justice Siddiqui said a review petition had a very limited scope in the Supreme Court and could be filed only on the basis of some errors apparent ‘on the face of the record.’

No additional argument could be given in such petitions and the bench which decided the original petition could take up the review petition, he said.

Lawyers who argued the petitions which were held ‘not maintainable’ by the Supreme Court plan to file review petitions on Monday.

Justice Siddiqui said not much could be expected from the review petitions because they had a very limited scope.

As for plans to challenge the eligibility of President Musharraf for another term after the Election Commission had cleared his candidacy, he said the field was wide open to the petitioners and they would be free to raise as many points as they could. The apex court would examine all such points, he said.

In his opinion, the Supreme Court could decide such matters in about a week. However, if the arguments were strong and the case could not be decided by Oct 6, the day the polling should take place, the court could stay the presidential election for an appropriate time.

Replying to a question, Justice Siddiqui said if the government held the presidential election even if the NWFP assembly was dissolved, the validity of such an election could be challenged before the Supreme Court.

He dismissed as insignificant ruling PML leaders’ contention that by dissolving the NWFP Assembly, the MMA government would be depriving the supporters of President Musharraf of their right to vote for their candidate.

Justice Siddiqui said a provincial chief minister had the constitutional right to advice the dissolution of the assembly and that right could not be questioned on any ground.

He answered in the affirmative when asked if the apex court could order that new assemblies, not the existing ones which had almost completed their term, should elect the new president.

He said the point had been argued during the hearing of the petitions already held ‘not maintainable’ by the Supreme Court. However, the apex court did not decide the matter.

He said the matter could be raised again with the apex court for a judgment.

Justice Siddiqui rejected a statement by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi that President Pervez Musharraf was no longer under obligation to take off his uniform before taking oath for another term as the Supreme Court had held all petitions against him as non-maintainable on “technical grounds”.

The former chief justice said the president’s counsel had given the undertaking to the Supreme Court which must be honoured at all costs.

He said under the existing arrangement Gen Musharraf could not retain his uniform beyond November 15.