Lahore High Court’s Justice Jawad Hassan has said that he will wait 90 days to see if the court’s order to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding elections within the stipulated timeframe is complied with or not, a private TV channel reported. The senior judge was hearing a plea on Tuesday seeking direction to President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi for giving an election date in Punjab as the ECP has failed to comply with the court’s order directing the electoral body to hold elections within 90 days.However, the petition was dismissed as withdrawn. As proceedings commenced, the petitioner’s counsel Azhar Siddique pleaded to the court that the LHC on February 10 had ordered ECP to announce elections date in Punjab but the ECP did not comply with the order. He requested the court to direct the president of Pakistan to announce the elections date, seeking further action against the Punjab governor and the electoral body for not entertaining the court’s order. However, Justice Jawad Hassan remarked it is not the obligation of the ECP to give a date for elections.”We will first wait for 90 days and then see if this order is not complied with. No need to worry, I am sitting here,” Justice Jawad remarked. In a landmark ruling on February 10, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had ordered the ECP to announce the date for elections in Punjab without delay. Justice Jawad Hassan had stated that the ECP is obligated to conduct the elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the assembly.”The ECP is directed to immediately announce the date of election of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab with the notification specifying reasons, after consultation with the governor of Punjab, being the constitutional head of the province, to ensure that the elections are held not later than ninety days as per the mandate of the Constitution,” read the verdict.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had approached the LHC on January 27 seeking orders for the Punjab governor to immediately announce a date for an election in the province since the assembly had been dissolved on Jan 12.
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