The Election Commission of Pakistan has filed a review petition against the April 4 decision of the Supreme Court regarding the elections, saying the top court overstepped its power by giving an election date of May 14.

The petition has requested the Supreme Court to withdraw the May 14 polling date.

The petition argues that the notion that Article 254 could only be applied after an act has been done was not valid. The Supreme Court of Pakistan used Article 254 prematurely in the Haji Saifullah case, it said.

Article 254 says “when any act or thing is required by the Constitution to be done within a particular period and it is not done within that period, the doing of the act or thing shall not be invalid or otherwise ineffective by reason only that it was not done within that period.”

The top court had earlier said that Article 254 applies only after something has been done.

The petition further said that an 11-member larger bench had in the past allowed an extension of the election by 4 months. The articles relating to the holding of the election should be read together, it said.

The ECP said that the Supreme Court does not have the authority to give the date of the elections. The court overstepped its power by giving the election date, it said.

The court can only interpret the law but cannot rewrite the law and an independent election commission is the need of the hour, it said.

The ECP also said it had not been provided funds and security personnel for holding the election.

The petition requested that the Supreme Court review the April 4 decision regarding the elections.