LONDON: Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday termed the Supreme Court verdict on Punjab elections as “One-man show”.
Addressing the press conference in London, the former prime minister said that a reference should be filed against the Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandia, Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.
The PML-N leader said that two out of the three apex court had also ousted him when he was in power in 2018.
He said that Parliament should show some resistance against the verdict of the apex court. He said that his party had requested the Supreme Court to form a full bench in this regard, but the SC rejected it.
“Today, the Parliament is being ignored. I don’t know how the system works,” said the former prime minister. He said that he was ousted for not receiving pay from his son.
The Supreme Court today set aside the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in which the Punjab elections were postponed till October 8, holding that the commission did not have such powers.
The top court held that 13 days gone wasted due to the unlawful decision of the ECP, and set May 14 as the date to hold general elections in Punjab. It ruled that the nomination papers could be submitted till April 10.
The bench directed the federal government to provide Rs21b to the ECP for elections and directed it to also provide security plan.
The bench held that the Election Tribunal would decide the appeals on April 17 while the electoral symbols would be issued on April 20. The bench ordered the ECP to submit reports regarding the funds for elections on April 11, so it could order the authorities concerned, if the funds were not released.
The minority verdict on March 1, it held, did not have any effect, and directed the authorities concerned to ensure free and fair elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The apex court also directed the Punjab interim government to provide complete assistance to the ECP in holding elections.
However, the matter of the KP elections was still pending before the Supreme Court as the lawyer who was representing the KP governor said he did not want to represent him.
