ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top court said on Monday it would announce its judgment tomorrow, Tuesday, in a landmark case challenging the national election regulator’s decision to postpone general elections in the country’s most populous province of Punjab until October 8.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial on Monday reserved the verdict in the petition case filed by the party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Provincial assemblies in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces were dissolved in January by Khan and his allies in a bid to force early general elections, since Pakistan historically holds the provincial and national elections together. According to Pakistan’s constitution, elections must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of a legislative assembly.

After weeks of delays and political wrangling on the issue, the Supreme Court in a 3:2 verdict on March 1 ordered the ECP to fulfil its constitutional obligation and announce an election schedule for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The ECP subsequently said the vote in Punjab would be held on April 30 but later said it was impossible to hold the vote in April due to security and financial concerns. It announced October 8 as the new poll date in Punjab.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party then approached the Supreme Court, which has since been debating whether the ECP’s move is legal.

“The law does not allow anyone to delay elections,” the chief justice remarked during Monday's hearing. “Only the court can defer the election date … How can the ECP give the date of October 8 for the polls?”

Bandial directed Defence Secretary Lieutenant General (retd) Hamooduz Zaman to submit a security report with regards threats to the election to the court by tomorrow, Tuesday, after the official requested the court for an in-chamber briefing.

“I cannot tell the details in the open court,” Zaman said. “We don’t want sensitive security information to reach our enemies.”

At earlier hearings in the case, the ECP told the court it would be ready to hold the polls if provided with the required Rs20 billion in funding and requisite security personnel. The court said on Monday the ECP could seek help from the navy and air force for security, apart from the armed forces.

The hearing in the election delay comes as, separately, Pakistan's parliament has passed a new law to curtail the powers of the Supreme Court's chief justice amid a row between the higher judiciary and the government on the holding of snap polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The government says it is economically not viable to hold the snap elections first and then have another general election this year in October.

The Supreme Court earlier this month ordered the snap polls to be held in the two provinces within 90 days of the dissolution of the two local government, which falls by April 30.

The new draft law, which has been sent to Pakistan's president for assent, has cut down the chief justice's powers to constitute panels, hear appeals or assign cases to judges in his team. These tasks will now be done by a three-member committee headed by the chief justice with his two most senior judges as members.