The Supreme Court has suspended nullification of nomination papers by Lahore High Court’s (LHC).
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar scheduled for hearing the petition filed by former speaker of National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and Election Commission of Pakistan, which challenged LHC’s ruling on nomination papers.
The petitioners had stated that LHC’s decision on nomination forms would delay elections.
According to the petitioners, they took the matter to Supreme Court as they did not want timings of elections to be affected.
The elections are feared to be delayed as filing of nomination papers has been put on hold following LHC’s ruling. Earlier, the nomination papers were to be filed between June 2 and 6.
Ayaz Sadiq and ECP’s counsel had also requested the CJP to hear petition at the earliest.
On June 1, LHC ruled that nomination forms that were to be submitted by candidates for the upcoming general elections did not include mandatory information, including details on their educational background, criminal record and nationality.
The court ordered ECP to again add the requirements of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution in the nomination papers.
Following the ruling, ECP summoned an emergency meeting where it was decided they would take the matter to the Supreme Court.
The ECP had also decided to challenge Balochistan High Court's ruling on delimitation of constituencies. The BHC had declared delimitation of eight provincial assembly constituencies in Quetta and one in Panjgur null and void.
