Cabinet to refer election funds issue to Parliament

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet Sunday decided to refer the matter of the release of funds for the May 14 elections to the Punjab Assembly to Parliament.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif chaired the cabinet meeting.

According to a statement issued later, the meeting lasting two hours observed that the Parliament was supreme and whichever decision it would make, would be acceptable.

The cabinet discussed in detail the Supreme Court verdict on the release of Rs21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by April 10 (today).

The statement said the cabinet, while deciding to refer the issue to the Parliament, also kept in view the National Assembly’s resolution of April 6. Through the resolution, the House asked the government not to implement the decision taken by the three-member, which ordered the ECP to hold the Punjab Assembly elections on May 14, terming the same unconstitutional and against the law.

Instead, the National Assembly, through the resolution, maintained the majority decision taken by four judges would be acceptable.

The federal cabinet Sunday directed the finance minister to prepare a summary for the release of elections funds for the guidance of the Parliament.

A special meeting of the federal cabinet will again meet on Monday where the summary would be discussed and then taken up by the Parliament.

The meeting said Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar briefed the cabinet on all the legal and constitutional aspects of the Supreme Court directives and release of funds to the ECP.

“The future plan of action will be decided tomorrow,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the joint session of Parliament to be held at 4pm on Monday (today) is likely to take up the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill, 2023 that was returned by President Alvi without signing it.

The cabinet also discussed the president’s conduct and was of the unanimous view that he was not doing justice to his constitutional position. The prime minister observed that the president was behaving like a worker of PTI and was serving the party’s interests.