ISLAMABAD:
Twenty-six petitions filed after the 2013 general elections are still pending with election tribunals which were supposed to come up with decisions in four months.
The tribunals comprising retired judges of lower judiciary were set up on June 3, 2013, with the hope that free from the burden of judicial work the judges would be able to decide petitions in four months, a deadline set for the first time in the electoral history of the country.
After the 2008 elections, 31 tribunals were set up and 272 petitions were filed. After the 2013 polls, only 14 tribunals were set up and 411 petitions were filed.
According to a report compiled by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), an NGO, eight cases were decided by the tribunals in May 2015, bringing the total number of decided cases to 385. Of them, 359 cases have been decided by the tribunals and 26 disposed of by the ECP.
