LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought a report from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) showing progress on the announcement of a date for the general election in Punjab.

Justice Jawad Hassan heard a petition seeking contempt proceedings against Governor of Punjab Balighur Rehman and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja for not announcing the date for the election as directed by the court on Feb 10.

Advocate Azhar Siddique, on behalf of the petitioner, submitted that the respondents were not complying with the judgment of the court in true perspective. Therefore, he said, the situation demanded action under provisions of Article 204 of the Constitution, which clearly states that high court can punish any officer if he or she abuses, interferes, obstructs or disobeys its order/direction.

The judge asked the counsel what was contemptuous in the matter as the judgment in question had been passed on Feb 10 and according to an additional attorney general, pursuant to the directions contained in the judgment, the ECP was convening meetings on a day-to-day basis for consultation with the governor and in this regard a meeting was also held on Wednesday.

“Why are you showing so much haste? Don’t you trust the court?” the judge further asked the petitioner’s counsel.

At this, Advocate Siddique said the ECP issued a press release, which suggested that the commission had no intention to give a date for the election.

Justice Hassan observed that the ECP had a statutory time period of 20 days to appeal against the judgment.

The lawyer submitted that he will obtain fresh instructions from his client in order to further assist the court.

The judge adjourned the hearing till Feb 23 and directed the ECP to submit a report about the progress made so far in the matter of election date.

Munir Ahmad, a lawyer by profession, filed the contempt petition saying a single bench on Feb 10 directed the governor and the ECP to immediately announce a date for the general election to the Punjab Assembly. However, he said, the respondents failed to comply with the court directions as no date has been specified for the elections.

The petitioner asked the court to initiate proceedings against the respondents for committing and aiding blatantly continuing contempt of court by consciously failing to adhere to as well as to comply with the orders.

Justice Hassan had ordered the ECP to immediately announce the date of elections to the Punjab Assembly after consultation with the governor, in his capacity as the constitutional head of the province, to ensure that polls were held not later than 90 days as per the mandate of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2023