PM Shehbaz’s position might be jeopardised if the election is postponed: Aitzaz Ahsan

LAHORE – Aitzaz Ahsan, leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), warned on Saturday that if Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif does not allow elections in Punjab on May 14, he would be disqualified.

Addressing a round table meeting of lawyers and jurists, he said that polls in Punjab will be conducted at any costs, and that anyone who violated the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling ordering elections in Punjab on May 14 would be disqualified.

He went on to declare that the nation was seeing a historic confrontation between the legislature and the court, and that political parties were at odds right now. “We must consider whether the constitution is supreme,” he continued.

“The constitution binds elections within 90 days [of the dissolution of assemblies],” he said. He went on to say that our nation was drowning in debt.

Mr Ahsan said that the Supreme Court’s decision was definitive, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his brother Nawaz Sharif had rejected the bench hearing the election case. “I have said from the beginning that the court’s order must be followed,” he continued.

Earlier, after the National Assembly’s standing committee rejected the bill seeking the release of Rs21 billion in election funds, a three-member Supreme Court bench directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to immediately release Rs21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the Punjab elections.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar introduced the bill in the parliament, requesting the release of election money, after the Supreme Court ordered the federal government to disburse election funds till April 10 and the ECP to conduct polls in Punjab on May 14. Following that, the court ordered the electoral watchdog to deliver a report on the distribution of money on April 11.

The ECP informed the Supreme Court in a report on April 11 that the government had not granted finances to the commission for conducting elections in Punjab. According to the Election Commission, the government has failed to give Rs21 billion despite the Supreme Court’s direction, and the Punjab caretaker administration has promised to supply just 75000 security personnel. “There is a shortage of three lakh security personnel for the elections in Punjab,” according to the ECP.

Following this, the court issued notices to top officials such as Attorney General Manssor Awan, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad, Secretary of Finance, and Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for failing to provide funds for the upcoming Punjab elections.