LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has nominated two judges as election tribunals instead of nine, as requested by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), to decide the petitions regarding the Feb 8 polls.

The names of Justice Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Sultan Tanvir Ahmad have been sent to the ECP for their nomination as election tribunals, an official said.

He said the ECP had requested the LHC to spare nine judges for election tribunals.

However, he said, Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti turned down the request owing to the huge backlog of cases and low strength of the judges.

At present the LHC has 39 judges against the sanctioned strength of 60.

After the appointment of the two judges in the tribunal, the LHC will be left with 37 judges. There has been no appointment of judges in the high court since 2021.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2024