ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) Thursday suspended the Lahore High Court’s decision forming additional election tribunals as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) April 26 notification.
The apex court’s decision came as a five-member bench heard the ECP’s plea against LHC’s last month’s verdict constituting eight election tribunals for hearing election petitions regarding national and provincial assembly constituencies.
The bench was headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprised Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi.
Today’s SC verdict is the latest link in the ongoing row between the ECP and the LHC regarding the appointment of judges in election tribunals regarding the February 8 polls.
The electoral body had moved the SC under Article 185(3) of the Constitution contending that under Article 219 read with Article 222(b) of the Constitution the power to appoint election tribunals was vested in the electoral body which could not be exercised by the high court.
The ECP had further contended that Article 219 of the constitution did not expressly require consultation by the commission with the chief justice of the high court concerned for appointing election tribunals or for allocating territorial jurisdiction to such election tribunals.
