ISLAMABAD: The PTI has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to get caretaker chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa removed after their constitutional terms of 90 days are complete.

The petition — filed by the party through its Islamabad office and former chief ministers of Punjab and KP, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and Mahmood Khan — also requested the court to supervise the two provinces until elections are held there.

It said that the members of the PTI and PML-Q were of the unanimous opinion that keeping in view the “illegal tactics” being adopted by the PML-N and its allies and the pressure allegedly being exerted through the coalition government at the federal level, it was the need of the day to obtain a fresh mandate from the people of Punjab, who constituted more than half of the country’s population.

At the same time, former chief minister of KP Mahmood Khan was also of the view, along with his members of the parliamentary party, that a fresh mandate was necessary to check the “frivolous campaign” allegedly launched at the instance of the federal government.

Punjab and KP have been under caretaker governments since the provincial assemblies were dissolved in mid-January. The petition stated that in terms of Article 224 of the Constitution, a caretaker set-up was formed for a period of 90 days until elections were held.

The petition said “it is now a fact” that after 90 days, the caretaker chief ministers of Punjab and KP did not have any lawful authority to hold and or continue with their offices as per the Constitution.

“Even otherwise, trust cannot be reposed in them due to their acts of misfeasance and malfeasance, which is a subject matter of numerous other petitions pending before the superior courts,” they said.

The petitioners requested the court to declare the caretaker chief ministers “to have ceased to hold the offices” and restrain them from exercising any powers or authority.

“Appropriate directions be issued to regulate the day-to-day operations of the provinces of Punjab and KPK, under supervision of this Court till the time general elections are held and a democratically elected government is installed therein,” they said in the petition.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2023