SC disposes off petition seeking to declare polls null, void

The Supreme Court (SC) disposed off on Wednesday a plea seeking the general elections to be declared void and null, Aaj News reported.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Mussarat Hilali, heard the petition of Brigadier Ali Khan (retd).

In the previous hearing, the SC had summoned the petitioner after he failed to appear before the bench.

During today’s hearing, the petitioner again failed to appear as he reportedly was in Bahrain.

The SC then disposed of the plea and imposed a fee of Rs500,000 on Ali.

In his petition, Ali had named the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the federal government as respondents.

He urged the SC to order new elections within 30 days to be held under the direct supervision and oversight of the judiciary “to ensure fairness, transparency and accountability”.

Ali also requested the court to put a stay order to stop the formation of a new government till the case is decided.

Since the February 8 general elections concluded, political leaders and parties have been protesting alleged rigging and delay on the issuance of poll results by the ECP.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party reached an agreement on sharing power in a coalition government.

“We are in a position to form the government and we have numbers to show the majority,” PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said in a press conference at Bilawal House, Lahore.

He said PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif will be the coalition’s joint candidate for the premiership, while PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari will be the candidate for the presidency.