The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday resumed hearing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) petition against delay in general elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The appeal is being heard by a five-judge panel that includes Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justices Ijazul Ahsan, Munib Akhtar, Aminuddin Khan, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.
Prior to the hearing, the SC Registrar’s Office approved the separate requests of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Pakistan Peoples Party, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to join the case as parties.
Today’s hearing
Farooq H. Naek, a lawyer for the PPP, asked the court to join the case as a respondent as soon as the hearings got underway.
“You want to present your stance… The CJP questioned, “Is your appeal on behalf of the PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement)? PPP is not a member of the PDM, Naek replied.
Justice Bandial then stated, “The court will first hear arguments from ECP’s advocate.”
Justice Mandokhail declared during the meeting that the suo motu case’s four judges’ decision was the “order of the court.” He declared, “To date, the CJP had not issued an ‘order of the court’.”
The CJP then noticed that Justice Mandokhail had provided his justification.
At one point, Naek maintained that the case be heard by the entire court bench.
Justice Mandokhail responded, “Why the entire court? The matter should be heard by the same seven-member bench.
Tuesday’s hearing
Tuesday’s hearing was attended by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, who noted that the opinion of two senior judges in the earlier Supreme Court (SC) decision regarding the elections in Punjab and KP is not relevant to the case involving the postponement of Punjab Assembly elections.
