The Supreme Court today accepted a constitutional case seeking to stop the April 4 referendum to merge the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Two constitutional cases were filed in the Supreme Court on March 17. The case to stop the referendum was filed by lawyers Ibrahim Shiyam and Aik Ahmed Easa.

The case was registered in the Supreme Court today (March 23). The case alleges that the question in the presidential decree and the Elections Commission's (EC) announcement go against the constitution.

"The question of whether to approve the entire bill is designed to obscure the real change to the constitution. Since this question is not designed to meet the requirements of Article 262(b) of the constitution, the Supreme Court must declare that the referendum scheduled for April 4 should not be held,” the case documents read.

Meanwhile, the second case, involving the President’s Office, was filed by former MP Ali Hussain. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to accept the case.

He asked the Supreme Court to declare that the Eighth Amendment Bill to the Constitution was invalid and that a referendum was in violation of Article 264 of the Constitution.

The referendum will be held on April 4, along with the local council elections. A total of 294,937 people are eligible to vote.