ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed as infructuous appeals filed by the dissident PTI Punjab Assembly members against their [disqualification].
A three-member SC bench, comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Athar Minallah, heard the case.
Punjab Assembly elections were also discussed during the course of proceedings while hearing the appeals of defecting and dissenting PTI members.
During the course of hearing, the Chief Justice, addressing the ECP’s Director General (DG) Law, said the Election Commission might have been ordered by the Lahore High Court regarding the Punjab Assembly elections.
He asked what was the Election Commission doing now after the order of the high court? The DG Law responded that the Election Commission had consulted the Punjab Governor on Tuesday. The minutes of the meeting with the Governor had not been received as yet, he added.
He said that the Punjab Governor would probably adopt the legal course on the issue.
Upon this, the chief justice asked why was the commission consulting the governor for the election date? Justice Ayesha asked why did the ECP need consultation for holding elections.
Justice Athar Minallah said that perhaps the high court had ordered the Election Commissioner to consult the Governor.
The Chief Justice said that if there was an order of the high court, then the Election Commission should consult.
