The Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended the Peshawar High Court's decision to postpone the second phase of local body elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

On February 1, the high court directed authorities to delay the polls in the province till after the holy month of Ramazan due to weather-related conditions. The second phase of local government elections in KP were scheduled start on March 27.

During Wednesday's hearing, a two-member bench headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, including Justice Ayesha A Malik, heard the case. Lawyer Afnan Karim Kundi represented the Election Commission of Pakistan and other officials attended the hearing in the apex court.

Presenting his arguments, the ECP lawyer noted the Abbottabad bench of the high court announced the postponement of the second phase of KP polls without listening to the arguments from the commission. He added the electoral body received a court notice on February 2 and at that time the high court had ordered to postpone the scheduled elections.

At this lawyer Raja Mudassir Abbasi defended the PHC verdict and noted it was impossible to conduct elections on March 27 due to harsh weather conditions in the province.

Justice Malik remarked the high court should have listen to the ECP's perspective before announcing the verdict as there was no confirmation that the weather conditions would hinder the election process in KP.

In his remarks, Justice Ahsan wondered why the high court delivered the verdict in haste as the report of the Met department was supposed to be analysed by the electoral commission and not the court.

Later, the apex court suspended the PHC verdict and issued notices to the respondents. The court adjourned the case's hearing till February 14.

In a verbal order, PHC's Abbottabad bench had postponed the second phase of the local body elections after accepting petitions of the residents of five KP districts on the grounds that these districts were expected to remain under snow in the last week of March due to heavy snow accumulation and, therefore, it would not be possible to set up polling stations, dispatch polling staff and procure requisite records and other instruments, reported Dawn.

Those districts where elections were scheduled to be held in March included Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Upper and Lower Kohistan, Kolai-Palas, Kohistan, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower Dir, Lower and Upper Chitral, Kurram, Orakzai, North and South Waziristan.

On December 19, 2021, the first phase of the elections were held in 17 districts of KP, including Buner, Bajaur, Swabi, Peshawar, Nowshera, Kohat, Karak, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Tank, Haripur, Khyber, Mohmand, Charsadda, Hangu and Lakki Marwat.