Pakistan’s Supreme Court has declared the country’s poll panel’s decision to delay the assembly elections in two provinces as “unconstitutional”.
The top court on Tuesday ordered the government to hold snap polls in the country’s most populous province of Punjab on May 14.
The court’s verdict followed a petition filed by the main opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Khan’s party had challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to delay the Punjab polls from April 30 to October 8 after the government refused to give funds to conduct the exercise citing the economic crisis.
The PTI in January decided to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies it controlled in a bid to force early national elections – a demand Khan has been making since he was removed from power a year ago.
