PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday gave final chance to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor to file replies to a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s petition, seeking orders for the commission to hold election to the provincial assembly within 90 days of its dissolution in January or with the minimum possible deviation from that deadline.

A bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan and Justice Abdul Shakoor fixed May 4 for next hearing of the petition, observing that the court would hear the matter even if the replies were not filed by ECP and governor.

The petition was jointly filed by KP Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani and PTI secretary general Asad Umar, requesting the court to declare illegal and unconstitutional a letter written by governor to ECP last month to recommend Oct 8 as the election date and a subsequent notification by the commission to fix that date for polls.

The KP Assembly was dissolved by the governor on Jan 18 on the advice of the then chief minister. The 90-day deadline for holding polls has already expired on Apr 18.

May 4 fixed for next hearing of the petition

Despite persistent campaigning by PTI for holding polls within the constitutional deadline of 90 days since the dissolution of the assembly, the issue lingered on. ECP issued the impugned notification on March 27, fixing Oct 8 as the polling day.

The petitioners have requested the court to declare that election to the provincial assembly is to be held not later than 90 days of its dissolution, subject to the barest minimum in present circumstances.

They asked the court to direct KP Governor Haji Ghulam Ali or President Dr Arif Alvi to announce the election date while conforming to the legal framework.

Barrister Gohar Khan and Shumail Ahmad Butt appeared for the petitioners, whereas Advocate General Aamir Javed and Advocate Mohsin Kamran Siddique represented the provincial government and ECP, respectively.

The petitioners’ counsel contended that the date announced by the governor was contrary to the clear mandate of the Constitution and tantamount to depriving the petitioners and all other citizens of the province of their fundamental right guaranteed under Article 17 of the Constitution to contest and participate in election.

They argued that under Article 242(2) of Constitution when National or a provincial assembly was dissolved, a general election must be held within 90 days and the results of the polls had to be declared no later than 14 days after their consolidation.

They stated that the intention of Constitution was that election had to be held within the stipulated period and that it couldn’t be delayed on the pretext that finances or security personnel for them were not provided by the federal government.

They said that the PTI petitioned PHC on January 30 for ordering polls within 90 days but the petition was disposed of after the Supreme Court decided that matter on March 1.

They said that the apex court had directed the KP governor to announce election date for the provincial assembly after consulting ECP. They added that the governor wrote the impugned letter to ECP on March 24, proposing October 8 as the polling day.

They pointed out that during previous hearing, the court had sought replies from ECP and the governor, but so far they had not filed the same.

Aamir Javed stated that he had prepared reply on behalf of the provincial government. He added that if the bench was seeking response of the governor, he would file comments on his behalf before next date.

ECP’s counsel Mohsin Kamran also requested the bench to allow him a fortnight time for filing reply of the commission.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2023