The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has postponed the elections in Punjab, which is the country's most populated province. This move contradicts a recent supreme court ruling and is likely to provoke tension between supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and the government.
In an eight-page order, the ECP claimed that holding and organizing the elections honestly, fairly, peacefully, and in a level playing field to all political parties is not possible due to security threats and financial problems. This has led to violations of the supreme court's ruling earlier this month, which stated that a new election must take place within 90 days of the dissolution of the Punjab assembly.
Imran Khan, the former prime minister, expressed his disapproval of the delay, stating that it violates the constitution. After being removed from the central government in a vote of confidence last year, Khan demanded a snap election, but the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, refused his requests for an immediate election. Consequently, Khan dissolved the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, where his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, was still in power.
The supreme court mandated that the new elections be held within 90 days and requested the election commission to suggest a poll date. The court allowed deviation from the 90-day deadline only by the "barest minimum" in the event of any practical difficulty.
The decision to delay the elections by six months violates the constitution, according to Salahuddin Ahmed, a lawyer, and will be referred back to the court for resolution. He believes that a full bench should be convened to address this constitutional crisis.
Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, a former senator, suggested that the election commission was under pressure from the government and a political establishment who feared going to the polls when Imran Khan's popularity was at its highest.
Khokhar argued that the security situation was worse in 2008 when the country was experiencing suicide bombings and lost Benazir Bhutto in a terror attack, but the ECP still held the elections. Similarly, in 2013, when the security situation was equally dire, the elections proceeded without incident.
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