Owing to an incomplete Election Commission, the acting chief election commissioner has postponed the by-election in PB-26 Jaffarabad (II) for six weeks. The election was scheduled to be held on May 24, but now will be held on July 9 instead. A spokesman for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said Acting Election Commissioner Justice Javed Iqbal had postponed the by-election pursuant to the observations made in the Supreme Court.
The spokesman said according to Justice Iqbal, the Supreme Court had observed that the Election Commission had no legal grounds to conduct by-elections. “The acting CEC observed further that recently in a few cases, the Supreme Court had dilated upon the issue of constitution of the Election Commission in view of the 18th Amendment to the constitution, and the apex court has time and again stressed upon the completion of the composition of the Election Commission,” said the spokesman.
Justice Iqbal also observed that no concrete progress could be made so far regarding the appointment of members of the Election Commission. According to a press statement issued by the ECP, it was also observed that in view of the obligatory constitutional provisions, all the elections held to fill casual vacancies in the Senate, National Assembly and provincial assemblies had become questionable after the 18th Amendment. “There should be no action in deviation of the relevant provisions of the constitution,” the statement added.