Punjab polls set for April 30

President announces date hours after receiving letter from ECP

ISLAMABAD:

President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday announced that the elections in Punjab would be held on April 30, which falls on a Sunday, hours after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) proposed dates for the polls.

Through a letter to the president, the ECP suggested that he might choose a date between April 30 and May 7, 2023 -- right after Eid – saying that the commission would be ready to perform its constitutional and legal duties when the date of the polls was finalised. It had further suggested holding the polls preferably on a Sunday.

The ECP also formally began the process of holding elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as it separately wrote letters to President Alvi and Governor Haji Ghulam Ali, requesting them to decide the date for elections in the province in line with a recent order of the Supreme Court.

The electoral watchdog has swung into action just a couple of days after the apex court tried to settle the polls controversy and ordered the president and K-P governor to set the date for elections in the province after consulting with the ECP.

An official statement of the ECP stated that it had sent a letter to the president for finalising the date for elections in Punjab in the light of the decision of the SC.

The statement added that the date for holding elections in Punjab had been suggested from April 30 to May 7, 2023.

“After the president chooses a date, [the] Election Commission is ready to perform its constitutional and legal duties,” it continued.

The statement further stated that the ECP had also sent a letter to the K-P governor.

While referring to the apex court’s order, the electoral watchdog stated that the commission was waiting for the K-P governor's response.

The decision to send letters to the president and K-P governor was made during an ECP meeting, which was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, on Friday.

In the past couple of weeks, the political stalemate had turned into a significant constitutional crisis, especially, when President Alvi announced the date for elections in two provinces as his decision was called “unconstitutional” in the National Assembly within the next few hours.

The hard stance taken by all the mainstream political parties on holding the elections in the provinces had pushed Pakistan into a constitutional crisis at a time when the country was already facing a high risk of default.

Though the country has been embroiled in political, economic and constitutional crises for months now, the recent crisis started when PTI chairman and former premier Imran Khan dissolved the assemblies in Punjab and K-P in an attempt to force snap elections on the parties ruling at the Centre and other provinces.

However, Punjab Governor Baligur Rehman and K-P Governor Haji Ghulam Ali did not immediately give dates for elections in the provinces.

The matter was subsequently taken to the Lahore High Court, which directed the ECP to hold elections within the stipulated time period of 90 days.

Read LHC bars by-polls on 43 PTI MNAs’ seats

Following LHC’s order, the ECP consulted the Punjab governor to finalise the election date but failed to do so as Balighur Rehman said he had not signed the summary for the dissolution of the assembly. Therefore, the governor argued that he was not entitled to announce the elections date.

In the meantime, President Alvi started writing letters to the ECP and invited the CEC for an ‘urgent meeting’ on February 20 for consultations on the dates for the polls in the two provinces.

The ECP, however, excused itself, saying it could not enter into consultations with him over provincial assembly polls as the matter was in court, adding that the Constitution did not empower the commission to fix the elections date.

On the ECP’s refusal, President Alvi did not hesitate to announce the date for elections in Punjab and K-P. In response, the ruling alliance lashed out at the president for taking an “unconstitutional” step and even threatened to go for his impeachment.

The pressure was continuously mounting and the country was moving from one stalemate to another when the apex court took suo moto notice of the polls controversy.

It not only ruled that polls should be held within 90 days but also directed the president and the K-P governor to decide the date for elections in the province in consultation with the ECP.

After that, the ECP initiated the process of elections in the two provinces. It sent a letter to the president containing dates to select from for holding the elections in Punjab.

It also wrote letters to the president and K-P governor to decide the date for the polls in the province in consultation with it.