The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared null and void the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone polling in NA-60 Rawalpindi after the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Hanif Abbasi.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar directed the ECP to hold the by-election on the seat on time.
On July 22, Abbasi was sentenced for life in the ephedrine case following which the ECP postponed the election in the Rawalpindi constituency citing various legal provisions regarding fairness of polls.
On July 24, Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rasheed, Abbasi’s main contender in the constituency, approached the apex court against the ECP order but the Supreme Court allowed postponement to continue and decided to take up the plea later.
Following the SC order, Rasheed took back his petition against the ECP order.
Following the verdict against Abbasi on July 22, the commission decided to postpone polling in NA-60, the constituency from where he was contesting elections, after a heated debate ensued in the media and political circles regarding giving level playing field to all contestants in 2018 General Election.
“The ECP having taken cognisance of all the attending circumstances is bound to provide level playing field to the contestants, under the Constitution and the law, particularly Section 4 of the Elections Act 2017 read with Article 218(3) of the Constitution and the powers of the Commission defined by the august Supreme Court of Pakistan in famous Workers Party case, and further in order to do complete justice between the contestants and the parties, the ECP directs that the general elections 2018 in NA-60 Rawalpindi IV is postponed.”
Published in Daily Times, August 2nd 2018.
