Summary moved to convene NA session

President advised to convene new session from Aug 12 to Aug 14

ISLAMABAD: In a development that will set in motion the process of transfer of power to the elected representatives in the wake of July 25 polls, the caretaker government has sent a summary to the president to summon the National Assembly session between August 12 to August 14.
The caretaker government sent the summary after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday notified the winning candidates.
Under the Constitution, the assembly session has to be convened within 21 days of the parliamentary election.
Talking to the media outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday regarding formation of new governments at the Centre and in the provinces, Caretaker Minister for Information Ali Zafar said the interim government has sent a summary for this purpose to the president.



"We have proposed to convene the new NA session between August 12 and August 14," he added.
Sharing the details, Zafar said in the inaugural session, the newly-elected members would take oath, to be followed by elections for the speaker and deputy speaker.
"Members of the lower house of parliament would then elect the leader of the house (the prime minister)," he added.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which is likely to form the next government, has already named Imran Khan as its prime ministerial candidate while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif is the joint candidate of all the opposition parties for the coveted slot.
"Our main job was to hold the general elections, which we have done it. The caretaker government will hand the power over to the new government once the process is complete.
"It is then up to the new government to deal with all the matters as we will be free of our responsibilities once the new PM and his cabinet are sworn in," he said.



Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asked independent candidates-elect to join any political party till August 9.

"An independent returned candidate may join any political party, if he or she so desires, through a written consent to the leader of the political party for joining his party by August 9," said a press release.
The party leader of the political party shall inform the commission of such joining of an independent candidate through a letter to be addressed to the commission.
Each independent candidate shall also submit an affidavit stating that he or she is joining a particular political party voluntarily and without any coercion.
The affidavit shall be duly sworn before the oath commissioner and shall be deposited with the provincial Election Commissioner concerned or with the deputy Director (Cord), ECP secretariat.
The notifications to successful candidates from reserved seats will be issued after the final list of positions of political parties is compiled. Candidates from reserved seats will be notified within two days after independent candidates join political parties.
Moreover, the ECP uploaded all forms containing data of results of the July 25 general elections on its website.
According to a press release issued by the commission, the results prepared by presiding officers are available on the site as Form-45.
Form-45 is the 'Result of the Count' showing the number of valid votes for each contesting candidate and ballot papers excluded from the count.
A number of political parties had cried foul, especially on election day, that their political agents were not issued Form-45s after the counting of votes and that rigging may have possibly taken place.



Form-46, which is an account of the ballot papers, and the Provisional Consolidated Statement of Results form (Form-47) have also been uploaded to the ECP site.
Form-48, the Consolidated Statement of Results of the Count, and Form-49, the Final Consolidated Result form, are available on the website as well.
Also the commission issued a statement to refute rumours hinting at the possibility that there might be a delay in the formation of assemblies.
According to the statement, things are proceeding as outlined in the Elections Act 2017. Successful candidates submitted details of their campaign expenditure within 10 days of polling and a notification was issued on August 7.