The Supreme Court of Pakistan has rejected another petition challenging the demarcation of constituencies in Balochistan made by the Election Commission, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
A three-judge bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Sardar Tariq Masood heard the review petition related to the delimitation of Constituency PP12 in Balochistan.
During the hearing, the acting chief justice while holding a dialogue with the petitioner said that stability has come in the country after the announcement of the poll date, ‘don't you want stability in the country? It is not a common thing that the election date has been announced’.
The petitioner’s lawyer Qamar Afzal said that a wrong decision was taken regarding the electoral constituencies, on this Justice Mansoor Ali Shah remarked that the election programme has been issued and nothing could be done now. “If we start giving judgements on the individual petitions, then the election process will be affected. We do not want to disturb the Feb 8 election date for such petitions,” the judge added.
Justice Mansoor spoke to the petitioner's lawyer that if he does not want the elections on time, make a statement in the court. But we will not allow the election to be derailed under any circumstances, the judge said.
Justice Athar Minallah remarked, “There should be no delay in the elections, no one will be allowed to delay the polls, the constituencies cannot be changed after the election schedule is released.”
Later, the court dismissed the plea challenging the delimitation of Constituency PP12 in Balochistan.
Reporter Rozina Ali