ECP issues schedule for Feb 8 elections on court order

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) late on Friday night announced the schedule of the February 2024 general elections on the direction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The court earlier at an emergency sitting suspended a ruling of the Lahore High Court against appointment of returning officers from the district administrations and directed the commission to announce the schedule by night.

Under the law, the schedule has to be released 54 days before holding of the elections. Hence, there was an uncertainty about the elections set to be held on Feb 8.

The ECP today filed an appeal against the LHC ruling in the Supreme Court  which was taken up on an emergency basis by a bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa. The court later suspended the LHC verdict and directed the ECP to issue the election schedule at once. 

The LHC order on a petition filed by the embattled PTI had created uncertainty about holding of the general elections on February 8. While suspending the training of district returning officers and other election officials, the ECP had said it should not be blamed for any delay to the polls.

The PTI filed the petition against appointment of the deputy commissioner of each district as the district returning officer. In the past, the sessions judges worked as the district returning officers across the country. The PTI contended that by appointing bureaucrats as the returning officers the government wanted to rig the elections.

The petition sought a stay in the election commission’s training of the election officers. The court accepted the plea and issued notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan and others. Soon after the verdict, the ECP suspended the training across the country, creating uncertainty about the holding of the elections on Feb 8.

On the other hand, the PML-N said that the PTI wants to get the elections delayed. It said that the PTI had not raised any objections to the appointment of bureaucrats in the 2018 elections.

Other parties also accused the PTI of trying to delay the elections, with the PPP saying that further delay in the elections would not be tolerated.