Pak Supreme Courts decision to hold off on prez poll result a set back for Musharraf

The 10-member larger bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court has decreed that the presidential election would be held as scheduled on October 6, but the results of the presidential election would not be announced until October 17.

Islamabad, Oct 5 : The 10-member larger bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court has decreed that the presidential election would be held as scheduled on October 6, but the results of the presidential election would not be announced until October 17.

"The bench has unanimously resolved and directed that the election process should proceed as per the schedule announced by the Chief Election Commissioner," Justice Javed Iqbal said.

"But final notification of the returning candidate will not be issued until the decision of this petition for which the process is to begin from 17 October."

The bench, while hearing the Constitutional petitions against the acceptance of the nomination papers of Musharraf in the presidential election, has further restrained the Election Commission not to announce the results tomorrow.

The Supreme Court said that no winner could be announced until it has ruled on whether Musharraf can stand for re-election in uniform.

President Musharraf is expected to be able to easily muster a majority in the national parliament and four provincial assemblies that select the President.

But the court ruling means that even if he gets most votes, he cannot be declared the winner until the court has decided if he was a valid candidate in the first place.

Musharraf was waiting for the court's verdict before formalising a power sharing deal with Bhutto, sources said.

This would pave the way for Bhutto's return to contest forthcoming parliamentary elections scheduled to be held by mid-January.

Last week, the court dismissed a number of earlier objections filed by Musharraf's opponents on technical grounds. That led to fresh petitions being filed this week, a foreign news agency reported.

The 10-member larger Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Javed Iqbal comprises of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Syed Jamshed Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.

ANI