Pakistan parliament rejects SC order to conduct provincial snap polls

Pakistan’s parliament on Thursday rejected a Supreme Court (SC) order to conduct provincial snap polls, in the latest move in a power struggle between the government and the top court amid political and economic instability.

The top court had on Tuesday ruled illegal the government’s move to delay the snap polls in two provinces where former prime minister Imran Khan had dissolved his local governments earlier this year, Reuters reported.

The speaker, in a live broadcast, said a motion was adopted by a majority of lawmakers to reject the court decision by a three-member panel headed by the chief justice and to demand a full court panel consisting of all judges hear the case.

The court’s Tuesday order said that the elections in two provinces should go ahead despite government reluctance to hold the votes now as it struggles with an economic crisis and a political challenge from the opposition, Reuters reported.

It gave a date of May 14 for voting in Pakistan’s largest and most prosperous Punjab province, and a pending date for voting in the northwestern Khyber Pakkhtunkhawa province due to some technical issues.

It also ordered the government to release funds worth Rs21 billion ($73.36 million) to the Election Commission of Pakistan for the voting and told it to update the court by April 11.

The government and judiciary have been at odds over cases related to political-wrangling, and parliament last week introduced a draft law to clip the chief justice’s powers.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government has been saying the country’s poor economic condition didn’t allow spending on the snap polls and then on a general election due later this year.

Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party and its allies had dissolved the provincial governments, hoping that it would force Sharif’s government to hold snap polls across the country, his long standing demand since he was ousted a year ago.

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar on Thursday meanwhile said that the security situation in the country was alarming and the security forces were engaged in operations against terrorism.

He said that political parties and bar councils requested the court to form a full court, which was not approved. If elections were held in Punjab, the National Assembly elections would be affected, he added.

Tarar said after the decision on the date of the election in Punjab, the federal cabinet carefully reviewed the decision and parliament passed a resolution that the elections of national and provincial assemblies should be held at the same time in the country.