SC delists Senate election method reference hearing.

ISLAMABAD -- The Supreme Court of Pakistan Sunday delisted the hearing of a reference wherein the government has requested it to interpret Article 226 of the Constitution for holding of Senate elections either through 'secret ballot' or 'open ballot'.

A five-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Yahya Afridi was scheduled to conduct hearing of the Reference regarding holding of Senate elections either through 'secret ballot' or 'open ballot' today. However, the apex court delisted the case due to non-availability of the bench.

Previously, the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) had adopted before the SC that the apex court has jurisdiction to address the political question after Justice Yahya Afridi said, 'Question [in reference] may be legal, but the thrust of it is morality and the object seem to be political.'

Therefore, AGP Khalid Jawed Khan cited judgments delivered in cases of Mehmood Khan Achakzai vs federation, Zia-ur-Rehman and the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) and contended that the apex court has jurisdiction to address the political question. He said that in the SHCBA case, the apex court even declared that it has power to review the constitutional amendment.

He argued that like Supreme Court of Pakistan the Supreme Court in India, Bangladesh, Canada, Australia, and many other countries do not hesitate to address the political question. However, the Supreme Court in US does not get itself in political issues, but in Bush vs Gore case it settled the election dispute. He said that the Hisba Bill case has bound the apex court to give opinion on the reference filed under Article 186 of...