Govt-PTI talks entirely voluntary, clarifies Top Court
The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) has fixed the hearing of matters related to general elections today (Friday) at 11:30am, it was reported on Thursday.
A day earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had filed a petition in the apex court seeking a review of its order to conduct polls in Punjab on May 14.
In the plea, the commission maintained that changing the election programme was the solitary domain of the ECP under Section 58 of the Elections Act, 2017.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday clarified that discussions between the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party regarding the simultaneous holding of general elections for all provincial and national assemblies were not influenced by any direction or order from the apex court.
In a written order issued Thursday, the apex court emphasised that the decision-making process behind the proposed electoral changes was entirely up to the involved parties, and that the judiciary had no role in these negotiations.
The court stated that the talks between the two sides were “entirely to be their own effort, without any direction or order of the court in this regard in any manner.”.
