Supreme Court to hear ECP plea against Punjab polls on Monday.

ISLAMABAD -- A three-member bench of the Supreme Court is set to hear Monday the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) petition challenging the top court's earlier order regarding elections to the Punjab Assembly.

The bench - headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar - will hear the petition a day after the May 14 date on which the top court had ordered polls to be held on in the largest province of the country.

The apex court's earlier verdict on a petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which was heard by the same three-member bench, came after months of drama around the polls.

The PTI-led Punjab government dissolved the provincial assembly in January in a bid to force the ruling coalition to hold snap polls. However, the government has consistently maintained that elections will be held in October or November this year.

The electoral authority had postponed the Punjab polls to October, which the PTI had challenged. The Supreme Court, in an April 4 order, declared the ECP's decision to be unconstitutional, without lawful authority or jurisdiction, void ab-initio and of no legal effect.

It ordered the electoral body to hold polls in Punjab on May 14 and directed the...