LAHORE, Pakistan: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold elections in Punjab within 90 days as per the Constitution.
The judgment – reserved earlier in the day – was announced by Justice Jawad Hassan.
While admitting the petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the LHC ruled that the ECP was bound to hold the elections in Punjab within 90 days.
The Court also ordered the ECP to issue the schedule of elections in Punjab immediately.
On January 12, 2023, the Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi signed the summary for the dissolution of the Provincial Assembly and send that to the Governor Balighur Rehman.
However, the governor excused himself from the process, saying he could not become a part of the move. Later, the assembly stood dissolved automatically.
In the petition filed on January 27, the PTI General Secretary Asad Umar maintained that over 10 days had passed since the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly but the governor had failed to fulfil his Constitutional duty of announcing an election date.
Talking to media, Advocate Azhar Siddique said that if the Court’s directives were not implemented, the Contempt of Court proceedings would be taken.
Advocate Azhar Siddique said that they would be seeking to apply Article 6 on the Governor Punjab.
