— Not obligated to announce elections when I didn’t sign dissolution summary, Punjab governor tells court
LAHORE: Punjab Governor Baligh ur-Rehman told the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday he is not responsible for announcing the election date in the province after the parliament’s dissolution.
In an eight-page response to the court, the governor, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart, rejected the charge he is obstructing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from performing its duties, and referred to them as “fallacious.”
He emphasised that he was not obligated to appoint the election date as he had never dissolved the assembly, and did not act on the advice of the chief minister.
The response from the governor came as the court took up identical petitions moved by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party and a private citizen, Munir Ahmed, seeking a date for general elections in the province.
The former ruling party and Ahmed approached the court after the governor declined to fix a date for the polls, despite a letter from the tribunal requesting him to do so.
During the hearing, the counsel for PTI, Syed Ali Zafar, argued the president could set the date if the ECP and governor failed to do so.
The additional attorney general, Nasar Ahmed, asked the court to form a larger bench to hear the case and expressed concerns about what would happen if the ECP failed to implement the order even after the election schedule was announced.
The ECP counsel sought time to submit a reply, saying that he had just been appointed and had not yet seen the court orders in the case. He noted the commission is responsible for conducting elections, but the date must be set by the governor.
Justice Jawwad Hassan said that Article 105 of the Constitution needed interpretation and that the president is not a party in this case.
He announced to make a verdict after hearing the case by February 13. During the hearing, he also instructed the ECP and governor’s lawyers to submit their responses by Friday (tomorrow) and adjourned the hearing.
Fawad Chaudhry, senior vice president of the party, who was in attendance at the court, said if a date for the election is not declared within three days, it will be considered a violation of the 90-day deadline set in the Constitution.
Chaudhry, who is a former minister, accused the central government of trying to delay the polls and called for the court to hear the case on Saturday.
