The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered for the presidential election to be held on July 30, following the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that it would not give a new date for the polls.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also instructed Director General (DG) of the election commission to execute the court’s order and to complete the scrutiny process by tomorrow.
The last day to withdraw nomination papers is July 27, instead of July 30 according to the new schedule.
The Supreme Court had asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to review July 30 as a day for presidential elections if there were no legal obstacles.
The ECP said it would have no problem with a date decided by the supreme court. According to the ECP, the final decision should be made by the court.
A three member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was formed to hear a petition filed by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) senator Raja Zafarul Haq.
Raja Zafarul Haq had filed the petition in the Supreme Court on June 23 to seek an earlier date for the presidential election as the ECP had refused to postpone it.
The petitioner had prayed to the court to direct the ECP to change the date of the presidential election from August 6 to July 30.
Earlier the ECP had stated that it was not constitutionally possible to hold early elections.
