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Thursday, January 31, 2013
Delay in elections not acceptable: SC* Court says won’t do anything that gives excuse to anyone for polls postponement
* Seeks ECP report on implementation of electoral reforms judgement
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that it would not allow any delay in the upcoming general elections in the name of legislation.
Hearing a Workers Party petition regarding the implementation of a judgement about electoral reforms, the Supreme Court asked the Attorney General of Pakistan Irfan Qadir to convey this message to the authorities concerned. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that the court would not do anything that gives an excuse to anyone for the postponement of general elections, while the chief justice said that there should be no pretext to delay the electoral process.
The court has also sought a report from the Election Commission of Pakistan on February 13 regarding the implementation of its judgement about electoral reforms. During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner, Bilal Minto, told the bench that the ECP had not implemented the court’s judgement in the Workers Party case. Upon this, the chief justice questioned why had the verdict not been implemented, and noted that people were staging protests in Karachi due to this reason.
AGP Qadir told the court that all concerned wanted elections on time, and added that the ECP had sent its recommendations to the Law Ministry for legislation two days ago and the ministry was examining them. He said that the Law Ministry has also received proposal from the ECP for ‘must vote’ legislation. The chief justice directed him to not leave the matter to the Law Ministry and talk with high-ups regarding the completion of legislation in an expeditious manner. He said that everyone wants completion of the legislation process as soon as possible. Hearing of the case has been adjourned until February 13.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk