Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has challenged the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday to set the polling date for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) elections to October 8, against the request of Governor KP, Haaji Ghulam Ali of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F).

The request stated that “initially, it was proposed that Governor KP did not set the date according to the constitution”, and further added that “the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has no authority to amend or decide elections in the constitution. Elections of the provincial assembly of K-P or any other assembly are mandatory through the constitution 90 days after dissolution (according to the date of analysis of the assembly).”

PTI further stated in the request that ECP is an institution bound to abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court and is not authorized to declare it illegal or review it.

The request also stated that

There is no provision in the constitution under which an un-elected and appointed caretaker government can continue to function for more than 90 days.

The request included the elections, stating that, “with respect, it is a legally flawed and delayed excuse due to the reasons given by the Governor and EC that taxes are not available or the security situation in the country is not conducive to holding elections. The Party petitioned the court to declare the Governor of K-P’s “illegal letter” as illegal and direct the Election Commission to hold K-P elections within 90 days, which is the minimum time allowed.

Last week, the ECP had announced the date of October 8 for the elections in K-P. The election oversight body had informed of its decision on March 27 through a notification.

ACM can ask the President to set a date for KP elections.

This notification came when the Governor of KP had proposed the date of October 8 for the elections in his province. He had written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja, in which the date for the KP Assembly elections had been proposed. The Governor also mentioned the deteriorating security situation in the province.

The move to file a petition in the Supreme Court by the PTI comes at a time when the High Court had declared the first decision of the ECP to postpone elections in Punjab as “unconstitutional”, which had shaken the government and the provincial election commission.