by Shahid Rao in The Nation, Dec 20, 2023
ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court of Pakistan Tuesday suspended Balochistan High Court (BHC) decision in a petition filed against the delimitation carried out by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Balochistan.
A three-member bench of the SC headed by the acting Chief Justice Sardar Tariq Masood conducted hearing of the petition and suspended the BHC’s decision observing that the announcement of election date was not something ordinary and noted that the same had resulted in political stability.
During the hearing, Justice Masood asked from the plaintiff whether he did not want political stability in Pakistan.
The decision has come just a day after the apex court declared that no one can use the powers granted to the ECP under the Constitution and reversed the judgment passed by the Balochistan High Court which had gone for delimitation of two provincial assembly constituencies in Sherani and Zhob.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah told the petitioner that they would not disturb the election date which is February 8 for the sake of such applications. He remarked that if you do not want elections on time then you should give a statement in court.
He also made it clear that they would not allow anyone to derail the elections.
Justice Shah said that nothing could be done as the election schedule had been announced and entertaining individual petitions would affect the electoral process.
Justice Athar Minallah said that there should not be any delay in the elections and they would not allow anyone to do so.
In this matter, petitioner Mir Khan challenged a Balochistan High Court decision about the PB-12 delimitation, which also raised a question that how the provincial top court had modified the delimitation of two constituencies in one case.
In this connection, the Supreme Court Monday last had declared that the objections against the delimitation of constituencies cannot be raised once the elections schedule was announced.
https://www.nation.com.pk/20-Dec-2023/won-t-allow-polls-to-be-delayed-reiterates-sc
