Pak SC suspends Lahore High Court order; orders Election Commission to issue election schedule by Friday

Islamabad [Pakistan], December 16 : The Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday suspended the Lahore High Court order staying the appointment of returning officers and district returning officers and directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue the election schedule by Friday night, Dawn reported.
Three SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa along with Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Sardar Tariq Masood heard an ECP petition challenging the Lahore HC ruling.
Pakistan's general elections are scheduled to take place less than 90 days after the dissolution of the National Assembly. The National Assembly was dissolved on August 10, 2023, by President Arif Alvi on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The development comes a day after the ECP paused a training session for ROs and DROs -- an exercise without which polls on February 8 could have been in trouble.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the ECP suspended a notification regarding the appointment of DROs, ROs, and AROs in response to an order from the Lahore High Court.
The Lahore HC order, which was issued on a petition submitted by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, seemingly brought the electoral process to a standstill, causing widespread concern among political parties--including the petitioner, PTI--regarding general elections.
In its petition in the HC, the PTI contested the appointments of bureaucrats to act as DROs and ROs for the upcoming general elections and sought the appointment of officials from the lower judiciary for the poll exercise.
Dictating the order, Chief Justice of Pakistan Isa said the Lahore HC order stood suspended and additionally halted all proceedings on the PTI petition in the HC.
He said the Lahore HC judge had intervened in the operations of electoral officers "with a [mere] stroke of a pen" and had "failed to realise" that they would be performing their duties throughout the country, Dawn reported.
Isa further added that the LHC judge had acted "well beyond" the high court's territorial jurisdiction and "in undue haste at the eleventh hour."
The development has also led to reactions across the political spectrum.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the apex court's order as a "milestone for the protection of democracy and the Constitution in the country."
"The Supreme Court failed PTI's conspiracy against democracy and the Constitution. PTI's attempt to escape from the elections has failed. It became clear that PTI was running away from the election," he stated.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman also criticised the PTI for "needlessly" involving the Supreme Court in affairs.
"Their strategy is to make the elections controversial before they are held. They don't need neutrals but PTI umpires in the elections," she stated.