ISLAMABAD: In an apparent indication that the plan to get the much talked about constitutional package for superior judiciary sailed through the parliament is still afoot, the JUI-F has sought two-month time from the electoral entity in holding the intra-party elections, citing its “hectic engagements” with the government related to the constitutional amendment.

“Our hectic engagements with the government over the constitutional amendment have kept us extremely busy lately,” a counsel for Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) informed an Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) bench during the hearing of JUI-F intra-party elections case on Wednesday.

He requested the bench to be granted two-month time for the JUI-F to complete the intra-party elections.

“Constitutional amendment has nothing to do with intra-party elections,” responded Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, who headed the ECP bench.

He added that a political party can lose its election symbol, and can be de-notified as political entity, if it fails to hold intra-party elections.

The defence side said that the JUI-F intra-party elections were already held at unit, tehsil and district levels, presently under way at the provincial level. Thereafter, the defence lawyer said, the party elections would be held at the federal level.

The ECP bench reserved its verdict over the JUI-F’s request to be granted two-month time to complete the intra-party elections, and adjourned the case for indefinite period.

This 29 August, the ECP had adjourned the JUI-F intra-party polls case till 18 September after the defence side sought time from the electoral entity for completing its intra-party elections.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024