The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the revised schedule of local bodies (LB) polls in Sindh and Punjab. However, it accepted the proposed dates of polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 43 Cantonment Boards of the country. A three-member bench led by the Justice Jawwad S Khawaja resumed the hearing of the matter relating to LB polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Cantonment Boards.
During earlier part of the proceedings on Thursday, the bench asked Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Salman Aslam Butt and a deputy director of the ECP to submit the second revised schedule of LB polls in Sindh and Punjab.
LB polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 43 Cantonment Boards of the country are concerned, the court, however, showed its satisfaction over commitment of the ECP to hold elections on May 30, 2015 and April 25, 2015, respectively.
At 4:30pm on March 5, in pursuance of court's directives, the AGP office submitted the second revised schedule in the Justice Jawwad S Khawaja's chamber about LB polls in Sindh and Punjab, proceedings on which would be held on Friday (today). The matter relating to LB polls was adjourned till March 10, as the ECP assured the court to submit the approval of the Cabinet over a bill regarding holding elections in the Capital with a schedule on March 10. During the course of hearing, the AGP submitted the revised schedule to hold LB polls in the provinces and the Cantonment Boards to which the bench asked form Abdul Rehman, Director General of the ECP, as to why the Commission planned election in Sindh and Punjab in three phases.
However, Rehman failed to utter a single word in response to the court's query; to which, the bench reprimanded him and adjourned the hearing for half an hour for another officer of the Commission to assist the court in the matter.
Appearing before the bench, a deputy director, Irfan Kausar, tried to justify the reason behind three phases to hold LB polls in three provinces and 43 Cantonment Boards, saying that against the printing ballot papers would take considerable time. He further said the ECP was obliged to get ballot papers printed from the PCP which didn't have sufficient capacity as its machine was installed in 1951, saying the Commission had written a letter to the Establishment Division for approval to install new machinery.
Kasur failed to cite any rule or law obliging the ECP to get ballot papers printed form the PCP - when the bench pressed, Kausar said that he came to know the capacity of the PCP printing machinery during the general elections of 2013.
Justice Jawwad S Khawaja abruptly remarked, "Jamhoriyat Zindabad" saying currently laser machines have much better speed to print a document, adding that the ECP is an independent institution and should purchase its own machinery for the purpose.
Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany observed: "The ECP is the creation of Constitution of Pakistan which should perform independently". The hearing of case was adjourned till March 6 (today).