ISLAMABAD: Most Pakistani legal and political experts said on Thursday the election commission’s decision to postpone general elections in Punjab until October would deepen political instability in the country, calling on the Supreme Court to settle the matter in light of constitutional provisions. 

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday announced the postponement of provincial polls in Punjab from April 30 to October 8, infuriating the party of former prime minister Imran Khan, who has been demanding early national elections since his ouster from power in a no-trust vote in April last year.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and its allies dissolved the provincial assemblies of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in January to mount pressure on the government to hold snap national polls across the country. The two regions account for more than half of the country’s 220 million population. Under Pakistani law, fresh polls for the two provincial assemblies should be held within 90 days of their dissolution and Khan’s PTI was gambling on the national government being unable to afford to hold the provincial elections separately from a national election, which is otherwise due by October.

Earlier this month, in a landmark ruling, Pakistan’s top court also said general elections in the two provinces should be held within 90 days. President Dr Arif Alvi subsequently announced April 30 as the date for Punjab Assembly elections after much political wrangling and consultations in recent weeks.

However, the ECP said on Wednesday it was not possible to hold free, fair and peaceful elections in April for several reasons, including a rise in militant attacks in the country in recent months. The PTI has announced it will challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.

“The ECP decision will cause anarchy and lead the country to further instability and chaos,” Barrister Ali Zafar, a former law minister who has served as a lawyer for ex-PM Khan in many cases, told Arab News, saying the election commission had “deliberately” violated the constitution and defied a recent Supreme Court verdict to hold the provincial polls within the 90-day limit.

“It is now a defining moment in history, and the Supreme Court will be the last line of defense with the support of the public,” Zafar said. “The ECP does not have any jurisdiction to overrule the Supreme Court judgment or change the constitution.”

Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, the senior vice president of Khan’s PTI party, who is also a lawyer, also slammed the decision of the ECP.

"The Supreme Court judges must take a firm stance on the issue since the people of Pakistan will stand behind them," he said. "If the superior judiciary fails to do that, it will be the beginning of a dark age in Pakistan."

Political analyst Aasiya Riaz said the postponement would exacerbate political chaos in the country, and the Supreme Court would have to step in again and push for a resolution as political parties had failed to resolve their differences.

"It is this very failure of engagement among political stakeholders that has brought us to this political crisis in the first place, which may have long-term consequences for the country," she added.

However, Pakistan’s former attorney general, Irfan Qadir, who is currently a special assistant to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on legal reforms, endorsed the ECP’s postponement decision and said the body had not violated the constitution.

“Under the constitution, the responsibility for conducting elections rests with the ECP, which also needs to determine the appropriate election time,” he told Arab News, adding that general elections could also be held on the same day across Pakistan in October.

Qadir agreed that the constitution stipulated a 90-day timeframe for holding elections as a general rule, but it also allowed flexibility under “certain circumstances.”

“Article 254 of the constitution and the 14th paragraph of the Supreme Court verdict also said that if the 90-day period could not be met, elections should be held as soon as possible,” he added. “The ECP feels the earliest possible date for holding elections is in October, so it has not acted in contempt of court or violated the constitution.” 

Ahmad Bilal Mahboob, the president of Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), said Section 58 of the Elections Act, 2017, authorized the ECP to alter or give a new election schedule in "extraordinary circumstances."

"The ECP can invoke Section 58 only in extraordinary circumstances, and now it has to record reasons for changing the schedule and inform the Pakistani president, according to the law," he told Arab News.

"In all likelihood, the Supreme Court will adjudicate whether such extraordinary conditions existed and whether Section 58 could be used for election postponement for six months."

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar called the ECP’s decision to postpone the Punjab Assembly polls the “best decision” as holding separate general elections in two provinces amid economic turmoil and mounting security challenges would cause greater political instability.

“According to Article 224 of the constitution, general elections should be held at the same time across the country, while the same article also allows polls to be postponed under extraordinary circumstances,” the law minister said.

Referring to an ongoing census exercise, he said the military also had to provide security to census workers.

"Should the army provide security during the census, fight against terrorism, or supervise election security?” Tarar said. “If elections are held in this political heat, they will be marred with bloodshed.”