President asks ECP to immediately announce Punjab, KP Assemblies’ polls

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to immediately announce the election dates for the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies as per the Elections Act, 2017.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja, the president said that if the ECP fails to issue the schedule for the elections it will be violating the Constitution of Pakistan.

The Punjab Assembly was dissolved on January 14 while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s dissolution took place four days later. According to the Constitution, elections need to be held for a dissolved assembly in 90 days.

However, Governors Baligh ur Rehman (Punjab) and Haji Ghulam Ali (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) have not yet issued a date for the elections. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the party which was in power in both the provinces, has been vociferously demanding the Election Commission of Pakistan to announce the schedule for the polls.

According to local media reports, the president reminded the CEC that Article 224(2) stipulates that elections are to be held within 90 days if an assembly has been dissolved before time. He added that ECP’s primary job was to conduct and hold elections.

“Thus, it is ultimately the Commission, which if it fails to discharge its functions and duties, is to be held responsible and answerable for the violation of our Constitution,” President Alvi said in the letter.

He reminded CEC Sikander Sultan Raja and the ECP members of their fundamental duty as per their oath under Article 214 and Third Schedule of the Constitution.

The president said that the ECP should announce the election date to avoid serious consequences of breach and violation of the Constitution and law.

He said the “oldest democracies had never delayed elections even during wars” and cited the example of former United States presidents, James Madison and Abraham Lincoln, who went ahead with elections despite their country being at war.

“I am of the firm view that there are no such circumstances as may furnish any justification for delaying or postponing of elections, in fact if such postponements of constitutionally mandated elections are evaluated throughout the world in recent history, they have morphed into serious long term set-backs to democracy,” said Dr Alvi.

He, however, appreciated the ECP for announcing the by-polls for the vacant National Assembly seats and asked it to immediately issue an election schedule to put an end to “dangerous speculative propaganda” for the upcoming and future general elections.