Islamabad, April 4 (IANS) The Pakistan Federal Cabinet on Tuesday rejected the Supreme Court’s unanimous verdict on the case pertaining to the postponement of elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The development came during the Cabinet’s meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, held after a three-member bench — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar as members — announced the apex court’s verdict on the matter which it had reserved a day earlier, Geo News reported.
Announcing the verdict on a plea filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the top court declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone polls in Punjab and KP from April 30 to October 8 as “null and void”.
The Supreme Court, in its verdict, states that the ECP’s order dated March 22, 2023, is declared to be unconstitutional, without lawful authority or jurisdiction, void ab-initio, of no legal effect, and is hereby quashed, Geo News reported.
“The Supreme Court’s decision is a minority verdict, which is why the cabinet rejects it,” the sources in the federal cabinet said.
The top court’s decision, as per the sources, is not enforceable, Geo News reported.
The government would raise its voice in parliament regarding the verdict, the sources added. It was also decided in the meeting that the ruling coalition’s parties will talk about the apex court’s decision in parliament, they added, Geo News reported.
In the meeting, the cabinet decided to present its position on the verdict.
On the SC decision, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice-President and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz took to Twitter and wrote that today’s verdict is the last blow of the conspiracy which began by “rewriting the Constitution and presenting the Punjab government on a plate” to the bench’s blue-eyed boy, Imran Khan.
–IANS
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