Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman on Thursday told the Lahore High Court (LHC) that he was not liable to announce a date for the elections, arguing he has not dissolved the provincial assembly.The governor stated this in a reply to a petition filed by a citizen Munir Ahmed against him for not announcing the election date after the dissolution of the assembly.

"It is emphatically denied that the answering respondent No 1 was in any manner obligated to appoint the date of elections when he has never dissolved the Assembly while acting on the so-called advice of the Chief Minister," the governor state in its eight-page reply to the LHC. He also rejected an impression that his move is creating any hurdles in the way of ECP to discharge its duties, calling the allegations fallacious.

“The content of the instant para are denied Io be false, vexatious and completely unfounded. It is unfortunate that malafides have been attributed to the answering respondent in complete disregard of the provisions of the Constitution,” the governor said while pleading the court to dismissed the petition.

Meanwhile, LHC Justice Jawad Hassan also heard an identical plea filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seeking the announcement of a date for elections in the province. The hearing was attended by when PTI leaders, including Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, and PML-N leader Rana Mashood and others.

Mr Chaudhry pleaded the court to decide the case tomorrow (Friday) as further delay would affect the 90-day period enshrined in the Constitution for holding the elections. The ECP lawyer told the court the electoral body was facing various impediments in holding the elections, including funds.

The federal government’s lawyer, however, requested the judge to form a larger bench to hear the case. The PTI lawyer said the government and ECP were not serious in holding elections timely. Asad Umar warned that a Constitutional crisis would emerge if a date for elections was not announced within three days. After hearing the arguments, Justice Jawad Hassan directed the ECP and the Punjab governor to submit their detailed replies in the case on Friday.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP