- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday (14) asked the country’s central bank to provide Pakistani Rs 21 billion (£59.4 million) for holding elections in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the government failed to give the funds.
On April 4, the apex court of the crisis-hit South Asian nation asked the federal government to provide Pakistani Rs 21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by Monday (10) to enable it to hold polls in the two provinces.
The coalition government led by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif introduced a bill titled ‘Charged Sum for General Election (Provincial Assemblies of Punjab & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Bill 2023’ in the parliament on Monday to authorise the release of the required funds for the ECP to hold elections.
The bill, sent to the House Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue for discussions by the National Assembly Speaker, was rejected on Thursday (13).
The apex court took up the case of failure of the government to arrange necessary funds despite the court verdict of April 4 to provide money to the ECP.
A three-member panel led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial heard the case where State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) deputy governor Sima Kamil and other officials including Pakistani attorney general Mansoor Awan were present.
After the hearing, the chief justice ordered the SBP to release Pakistani Rs21 billion and send an “appropriate communication” to this effect to the finance ministry by April 17.
The court had already ordered elections in Punjab on May 14 but the ECP had been hamstrung due to the non-availability of money to carry out the exercise.
The government has been using the pretext of a deteriorating economic situation to avoid the release of funds. However, the top court is adamant that elections are held on time.
(With PTI inputs)
