Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, part of the four-member Supreme Court (SC) bench hearing the case against the postponement of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly elections, excused himself from hearing the case on Friday. Just moments after a four-member Supreme Court (SC) bench resumed hearing PTI’s petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to delay polls to the Punjab Assembly, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail distanced himself from the bench. The judge observed that he believed he was a “misfit” in the four-member bench.

Justice Mandokhail is the second judge to recuse himself from the bench hearing the PTI petition. A day earlier, Justice Aminuddina Khan withdrew himself from the bench hearing the case since he was a signatory to an order issued by a different bench, proposing the postponement of all cases instituted under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.

“In view of case No 4 of 2022 (awarding of 20 additional marks in MBBS or BDS degrees to candidates for memorising the Holy Quran), which is still in the field but the present bench is proceeding with the case (postponement of Punjab elections), therefore I recuse myself of the case,” Justice Amin said. Earlier in the day, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial formed the four-member bench comprising himself, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.

Former prime minister Imran Khan’s party had challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) order to put off the Punjab polls till Oct 8. The electoral body had cited security and financial constraints as reasons to defer the elections. In a concurrent development, the federal government on Wednesday approved the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023 in the National Assembly, clipping powers of chief justice of Pakistan. The March 1 verdict of the top court came under debate during Wednesday's hearing as Justice Mandokhal and Justice Munib Akhtar came at odds over validity of the ruling.

At the outset of Wednesday's hearing, Justice Mandokhail maintained that the top court had dismissed the suo motu case regarding elections with 4-3 majority. He said the majority of the judges did not give an order for elections. “How did the Election Commission hold consultation for elections and how did the president announce the date for polls where there was no order of court?” inquired Justice Mandokhail. He added, “Supreme Court’s order of the court was decision of the four judges”.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP