KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has rejected the petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) seeking restraining order on the schedule of local body elections announced across the province.
The apex court in Sindh rejected the PTI and GDA’s plea to suspend the notification regarding the election schedule and directed the Sindh government and the Election Commission to submit reply in any case at the next hearing.
The petition of PTI and GDA was heard by a two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Sindh High Court Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh. The next hearing in the case is set for May 24.
During the hearing, the PTI lawyer had taken a stand that the notification on the date of local body elections should be suspended until the Election Commission and Sindh government submit a written reply on which the Chief Justice of Sindh remarked, “Sorry, we have not stopped the local body elections.” Can
The Chief Justice further said that how can we stop the elections in this way when there is an order of the Supreme Court to hold local body elections. On which GDA’s lawyer argued that the Supreme Court had also ordered amendments in the law before the local body elections without which the local body elections would be a violation of the order of the Supreme Court.
On which the Chief Justice remarked that the laws of the departments which were ordered to be amended could also be issued after the local body elections. GDA’s lawyer stated that if local government elections are held then under which law?
The court also expressed frustration with the provincial government and the Election Commission for not submitting a written reply. The ECP lawyer said that the copy of the notice was received late so the reply could not be prepared.