Defence Ministry moves Supreme Court to hold elections in one go

ISLAMABAD – The Ministry of Defence has approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan to hold upcoming elections on the same date, after the completion of the term of the National, and local legislatures.

In this regard, a sealed petition was filed in the country’s top court to recall its April 4 ruling that had fixed May 14 as the date for elections in Punjab.

The ministry maintained that armed forces will be available for election duty by October while a report was also made part of the petition which was presented to the Supreme Court judges from the ISI chief and other intelligence officials.

Citing the deteriorating security situation and counter-terrorism operations, the ministry said, Pakistan Army, Rangers, Frontier Constabulary, and other forces are not logistically available to be repositioned and re-posted for providing election security, twice in a span of six months.

It also linked the removal of security personnel from KP and Balochistan with possible attacks.

The development comes days after National Assembly turned down the motion seeking funds to the tune of Rs21 billion for the Election Commission Pakistan to hold general elections in Punjab.

The motion was moved by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar as the deadline given by the Supreme Court to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to release funds to the electoral body for the snap polls ends today.

Earlier this month, Supreme Court ruled that the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone polls to the Punjab Assembly till Oct 8 was “unconstitutional” and fixed May 14 as the date for polls in the province.