ISLAMABAD: The ruling alliance on Saturday filed a petition here in the Supreme Court seeking formation of ‘full court’ bench to hear the suo motu notice initiated over the apparent delay in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies’ general elections.

The petition was filed by the parties of ruling alliance including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), through Farooq H. Naek, Kamran Murtaza and Mansoor Usman Awan. The petition also sought exclusion of Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi from the ‘full court’ bench.

Earlier on Friday, a nine-member larger bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Naqvi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, heard the suo motu case over delay in elections.

The larger bench was requested by the coalition government that Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi should recuse themselves from the larger bench that is hearing suo motu proceedings regarding the delay in the announcement of a date for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The request was presented in a joint note by the PPP, PML-N and JUI-F.