ISLAMABAD – Supreme Court of Pakistan revoked Lahore High Court (LHC) order on the appointment of returning officers (ROs) from bureaucracy, ruling out chances of delay in general elections that are scheduled for February 8.
CJP Qazi Faez Isa issued the order after ECP challenged ruling issued by Lahore High Court. Apex court judges Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Sardar Tariq Masood were part of bench.
Earlier, CJP Isa holds key meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja as training of ROs responsible for supervising election process was halted after the LHC verdict.
In the key meeting, other apex court judges including Justice Sardar Tariq, Justice Ejaz-ul-Ahsan, and the Attorney General also participated to chalk out strategy arising from the LHC order.
CJP Isa first interacted with fellow judges and consulted the order of the Lahore High Court, after this consultation the Attorney General and the Election Commission chief were summoned.
Meanwhile, the ECP spokesperson turned down a statement from PTI about a possible delay in polls.
The development comes as ECP started training ROs for the polls, a task which had to be completed before the election schedule was issued as these officers would be responsible for accepting and scrutinising nomination papers.
Later, the Lahore court issued ruling against the returning officers and sparked new situation which is being reviewed.
Election watchdog then issued another statement denying statements being attributed to it through ‘sources’ that it would approach the apex court over the matter.
This is a developing story, and will be updated later…
