Four Supreme Court judges on Monday recused themselves from hearing the suo moto case about the delay in the announcement of poll dates for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
Justice Ahsan, Justice Naqvi, Justice Minallah and Justice Yahya Afridi recused themselves from hearing the case. Earlier, the top court issued the February 23 written order requesting to reconstitute the nine-member bench.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Minallah’s dissenting notes were also included in the written order.
The request to reconstitute the bench was referred to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Atta Bandial. However, a five-member court has resumed hearing the case today.
Since their dissolution earlier this year, the top court took suo motu notice over the delay in the announcement of elections for the provincial assemblies of Punjab and K-P.
PTI lawyers Ali Zafar and Faisal Chaudhry, alongside party leaders Fawad Chaudhry, Shireen Mazari and Dr Waseem Shehzad, and Mansoor Awan of PML-N, Farhatullah Babar of PPP, Kamran Murtaza of JUI-F and AML chief Sheikh Rashid, appeared in court.
Pakistan Bar Vice Chairman Haroon Rasheed, Supreme Court Bar President Abid Zuberi, and Islamabad High Court Bar President Shoaib Shaheen were also present.
A nine-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, and Justice Minallah, was earlier constituted to hear the case.
