ISLAMABAD: After a daylong hearing, Pakistan’s top court on Tuesday reserved its judgment in a case pertaining to delay in elections of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies, which would be announced at 11pm on Wednesday.  

The Supreme Court of Pakistan last week took a suo motu notice of the delay in provincial elections and decided to ascertain as to who was responsible to announce a date for polls, more than a month after the dissolution of the provincial legislatures.  

“The judgment would be announced tomorrow by 11am,” the Supreme Court announced after wrapping up the hearing.  

Seeking to force the government into holding an early national election, former prime minister Imran Khan dissolved the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in January, days after his allies did the same in the most populous Punjab province. The two regions account for more than half of the country’s 220 million population. 

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is gambling on the government of PM Shehbaz Sharif being unable to afford to hold the provincial elections separately from a nationwide election, which is otherwise due by October.  

Under the Pakistani law, fresh polls for the two provincial assemblies should be held within 90 days, but in recent weeks, senior PTI members have variously said the government is trying to delay elections in the two provinces.  

Last week, President Arif Alvi, a close Khan aide, announced that elections in both provinces would be held on April 9. He accused the governors of both provinces of delaying the elections, adding that it was his constitutional duty to announce polls in such an instance. The government, however, said Alvi did not have the authority to make such a call. 

“If the elections are not held in time, uncertainty will prevail in the country,” Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial remarked on Tuesday, repeatedly emphasising “it is spirit of the constitution to hold elections within 90 days.”  

During the hearing, the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) lawyer Sajeel Sheryar Swati said dates for the provincial elections should be announced by the respective governors, adding the commission had written separate letters to Punjab and KP governors in this regard.  

“The election commission should have completed all preparations for the polls and reached out to the governors again [for the election date],” the chief justice said.  

The president’s authority to announce the election date also came under discussion during the hearing as he had unilaterally fixed April 9 as the date for polls in both provinces. 

Attorney-General Shehzad Ata Elahi objected to the president’s authority of giving the election date, saying that he can fix a date only if the National Assembly was dissolved or general elections were to be held after the expiry of the assembly’s term.  

Elahi said the election commission had the authority to decide the election date and conduct polls, adding if schedule given in the 2017 Elections Act was followed, then provincial elections could not be held before April 25.  

“As per the Elections Act, at least 28 days are required for the election campaign, but the election commission could reduce this time to hold the elections within 90 days,” the attorney-general said.  

President Alvi’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja defended his authority to fix the election date as per the constitution. “The president doesn’t need an advice [from the government] to announce the election date,” Raja maintained.  

Farooq H. Naek, who represents another ruling coalition partner, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), termed the president’s announcement of the election date "unconstitutional," saying he fixed the date without the prime minister’s advice.  

Earlier in the day, the court gave the PTI and the coalition government until 4pm to sit together and develop a consensus over the election date, but it could not be reached.  

“Everyone here agrees that under Article 224, elections are to be conducted within 90 days,” the chief justice said.  

“The court is trying to ascertain as to who should give the election date. It has to be determined who will give the election date in the future.”