Local bodies’ elections: SC upholds ECP’s order for re-polling in Lakki Marwat Tehsil

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the order passed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for re-polling in Sarai Naurang Tehsil of Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP), in the local bodies elections.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial, dismissed the petition challenging the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan for re-polling in the area during the local bodies elections.

One Aziz Ullah had challenged in the apex court, the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan for re-polling on the seat of the chairman in Sarai Naurang Tehsil of Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, during the first phase of local bodies elections in the province. The court directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to make rules for hearing cases pertaining to elections and then publish it.

During the course of hearing, the court took a strong exception to the absence of rules for hearing cases related to the election matters and observed that the ECP did not make rules despite the passage of several decades.

"It is a clear failure of the ECP for not making rules even after several years,” the court observed, adding it should make rules in accordance with law and then publish it. The court further observed that the ECP has massive powers of polling and interfering in elections result but it must have solid material while exercising its powers.