ISLAMABAD: In a move likely to increase tensions between Pakistan's government and the judiciary, the lower house of the parliament on Monday rejected a motion calling for the allocation of Rs21 billion ($73 million) in funds to the country's election regulator so it can hold polling in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces. 

The development takes place after Pakistan's Supreme Court last week directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to allocate and release funds to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by today, April 17, for elections in Punjab and KP. The court had directed the central bank and the ECP to submit a compliance report on Tuesday. 

Earlier this month, the top court had ordered polling for Punjab's provincial assembly to be held on May 14. The verdict pitted the government against the top court, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's coalition government wants elections in Pakistan's provincial and national assemblies to be held on the same day. 

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders have mounted verbal attacks against the judiciary in recent weeks, with the party even calling on the chief justice to resign, and accusing two other senior judges of the Supreme Court of being biased against it. 

The government earlier moved a money bill in the National Assembly seeking to discuss the allocation and release of the funds for polls after the Supreme Court's verdict.

“The state bank has no authority to allocate funds for any expenditure,” Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha told reporters. “Only parliament can approve the budget.” 

The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance held a meeting earlier on Monday during which it rejected the Supreme Court’s demand for the allocation of the funds and referred the matter to the parliament. 

The SBP's Acting Governor Sima Kamil informed committee members that the central bank had "allocated but not released" the funds, following which the government took up the issue in the federal cabinet meeting, where it was unanimously decided to refer it to the National Assembly for discussion and debate. 

Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar moved a motion in the lower house of parliament for a debate on the matter, where it was rejected. 

The controversy surrounding elections in Pakistan's two provinces was triggered when former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party dissolved the Punjab and KP assemblies in January.

The move was part of Khan's efforts to pressurize PM Shehbaz Sharif's government into announcing early elections, as Pakistan has held voting on all assemblies on the same day, historically. 

However, the coalition government has rejected the demand, insisting that national polls should be held simultaneously in October after the expiry of the assemblies' five-year term. 

The country’s constitution says elections should be held within 90 days from the dissolution of the assembly before the expiry of its term. Since last month, the matter has been pending in the Supreme Court.

Earlier, the ECP had unilaterally deferred voting in Punjab and KP till October, citing lack of security and funds as the reasons. However, the apex court has been pushing the government to release the required funds and extend all other necessary cooperation to the election regulator.

“In such economic circumstances if elections are held again and again for the sake of one man’s ego, it is not in the country’s interest,” the law minister said during the National Assembly session, referring to Khan. 

Speaking about the court's directive to the central bank over the release of funds for elections, Tarar said "only parliament" has the authority to approve or disapprove additional expenses. 

As per the court’s directive, the ECP would submit a report in the court tomorrow, Tuesday, over the non-provision of the funds, which is likely to trigger another legal battle between the judiciary and the government. 

Legal experts say the court may summon the prime minister or the finance minister in the case and initiate contempt proceedings against them for defying its orders.