QUETTA (Daily Point) — The Supreme Court (SC) nullified the Balochistan High Court’s directive regarding delimitations on Monday.

A three-member bench, led by Acting Chief Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and including Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah, delivered a significant verdict on the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) appeal concerning the delimitation of two Quetta provincial assembly seats.

The SC ruled that challenges to constituency delimitation cannot be raised once the election schedule has been announced. Justice Athar Minallah questioned the high court’s use of the election commission’s legal authority.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah noted that after the election schedule’s issuance, all litigation regarding constituencies had become ineffective. He emphasized that the entire election process should not be disrupted to provide relief to an individual, stating, “We have to draw a line and set a limit in this regard.”

Justice Sardar Tariq Masood expressed his perplexity about the desire to delay the elections, stating, “Let elections take place in the country.”

The Balochistan High Court had modified the ECP’s constituency delimitation in Shirani and Zhob, prompting the ECP to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Last week, the SC suspended a Lahore High Court order related to the appointment of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) from the bureaucracy, introducing uncertainty about the upcoming general polls.