Supreme Court suspends LHC's RO order; elections on Feb 8

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan has suspended the Lahore High Court (LHC) order on the appointment of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) from the bureaucracy, which cast uncertainty over holding of general elections in the country which were scheduled for February 8, 2024, ARY News reported on Friday.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Sardar Tariq Masood announced the order on a petition by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) challenging the LHC’s order suspending the appointment of ROs and DROs.

In the petition, the electoral watchdog has prayed to Supreme Court to declare LHC’s verdict “null and void” and ensure that its order on staging general elections on Feb 8 is followed.

While halting the Lahore High Court (LHC) order that suspended the appointment of ROs and DROs from bureaucracy, the Pakistan top court directed the electoral watchdog to issue the election schedule by tonight.

The Pakistan Supreme Court also issued a contempt of court notice to Barrister Umair Niazi – who filed the petition on behalf of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – seeking an explanation as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him.

Reading out the order for today’s hearing, CJP Isa said that the LHC order stood suspended and additionally halted all proceedings on the PTI petition.

“LHC judge [Najafi] had intervened the operations of electoral officers with a [mere] stroke of a pen and had failed to realise that they would be performing their duties throughout the country,” the chief justice said.

The top judge noted that the LHC judge had acted “well beyond” the high court’s territorial jurisdiction and “in undue haste at the eleventh hour”.

He ordered for the PTI plea to be forwarded to the apex court to determine its maintainability, saying that the SC would hear the petition itself if it deemed it appropriate.

“The petition as filed appears not to be maintainable,” the chief justice observed.

CJP Isa also instructed the election commission to “do its job” and issue the election schedule by tonight.

The hearing was subsequently adjourned for an indefinite time after notices were issued to the federal and provincial governments and the ECP petition was admitted for hearing.

Lahore High Court order

On Wednesday night, Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Ali Baqir Najafi suspended an ECP decision to appoint election staff, including returning officers (ROs), from the bureaucracy.

Accepting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea, LHC Justice Najafi suspended the ECP’s notification and referred the case to the LHC chief justice, recommending constituting a larger bench to hear the case.

The high court order, which came in response to petitions submitted by the PTI, have seemingly brought the electoral process to a standstill, causing widespread concern among political parties regarding general elections, scheduled for Feb 8, 2024.

The hearing

At the outset of the hearing, CJP Justice Qazi Faez Isa asked ECP’s lawyer Sajeel Swati what was the hurry that he had to appear before the court at this hour.

In response, the ECP counsel said: “Our petition regarding the February 8 elections needed to be heard today.”

The ECP’s lawyer apprised the court of LHC order, suspending the commission’s notification to appoint ROs and DROs from the bureaucracy. “The LHC’s order stopped the election process,” Swati said.

When the court asked the lawyer to explain the issue further, Sajeel Swati said that PTI’s Umair Niazi had moved the LHC seeking the appointment of the DROs and ROs from the judiciary and not from the executive.

Accepting the PTI’s petition, the ECP lawyer said, the LHC suspended the commission’s notification. The lawyer further said that for the ECP, its priority was the judicial officers, but the judiciary declined.

Later, the chief justice wondered what the PTI’s lawyer wanted. The CJP asked how could the high court pass an order against its own verdict.

He then reminded the people that the Pakistan Supreme Court had passed the Feb 8 polls order on the plea of PTI.

“Umair Niazi’s petition is in contempt of the Supreme Court’s order and is a bid to derail democracy,” the CJP said and asked whether the SC should start a contempt proceeding.

CJP Isa asked if judicial officers, election commission, and executive do not conduct elections, then who will? “Prima facie, it seems like a bid to postpone the polls.”

The CJP asked the ECP counsel about who is responsible for holding the elections. At this, the lawyer said that ECP is responsible.

Political forces to become parties

Following the development, major political parties have decided to become parties in the case, being heard in Lahore High Court (LHC) regarding the appointments of ROs from bureaucracy.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) have decided to become parties in the case.

Meanwhile, LHC constituted a five-member larger bench to hear the PTI’s plea, challenging the appointments of ROs.

The bench – headed by Justice Baqir Ali Najafi – will hear the petition on December 18.

CEC Raja met CJP Isa

The development came after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa held a meeting to discuss possible repercussions of the High Courts’ verdicts.

Sources said that during the huddle, attended by Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Tariq Masood, CEC Raja apprised the apex court judges regarding the LHC ruling.

Sources said that CEC Raja informed the chief justice of the preparations being made by the ECP for the polls slated to be held on February 8, 2024.

ECP appointments

Earlier on Dec 11, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had approved the appointment of Returning Officers (ROs) and District Returning Officers (DROs) for the forthcoming general elections.

The ECP approved the appointment of 859 ROs and 142 DROs for the general elections 2024.

It was learnt that deputy commissioners (DCs) of all districts were being appointed as the DROs and ADCs will be appointed as the ROs for the National Assembly (NA) seats.

The assistant deputy commissioners will be appointed as the returning officers (ROs) for the provincial assembly (PA) seats.

General elections

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had notified general elections on February 8, 2024.

According to details, the Election Commission issued a notification of the date of the general election under Section 57 of the Election Act۔

The notification said that in light of the Supreme Court’s order, the general elections will take place on February 8, 2024.