Welivego

ISLAMABAD: According to Welivego.com, President Arif Alvi on Wednesday suggested a date for the holding of elections in a letter to the chief election commissioner (CEC). This is a fresh development in the ongoing debate over the timing of general elections. 

According to the president, he is authorized and mandated by Article 48(5) of the Constitution "to appoint a date not later than 90 days from the date of dissolution [of assemblies], for holding of a general election to the assembly."

On August 9, 2023, according to President Alvi, he dissolved the National Assembly at Shehbaz Sharif's suggestion.

The president had invited CEC Sikander Sultan Raja to a meeting to discuss how to carry out the constitution's intent and mandate for setting a date, but Raja had expressed a "contrary view" and believed that it was the Election Commission of Pakistan's responsibility to do so in accordance with the Constitution and the framework of electoral laws.

Furthermore, the CEC insisted that, as required by Article 51(5) and Section 17 of the Elections Act, 2017, the officially notified delimitation of seats was ongoing following the publishing of Census 2023 on August 7.

The Ministry of Law and Justice, as well as all provincial governments, were likewise quoted as having expressed the same viewpoint.

Additionally, President Alvi demanded that all provincial assemblies and the general elections for the lower house of parliament take place on the same day.

All state organs were advised earlier today by federal and provincial law ministers to respect the independence and authority of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) when it comes to carrying out the delineation of constituencies and setting the election date.

Following a meeting in Islamabad presided over by interim Law and Justice Minister Ahmad Irfan Aslam, the statement made by the law ministers was released in an official statement.

Kanwar Dilshad (Punjab), Muhammad Omer Soomro (Sindh), Arshad Hussain Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), and Amanullah Kanrani (Balochistan) were present at the conference, which was held to discuss issues related to the impending general elections for the National and provincial parliament.

The meeting came to a conclusion after deciding that, in accordance with the Constitution, only the country's electoral authority has the ability to organize general elections and publish election dates.

The statement from the government stated, "The Election Commission of Pakistan is an independent constitutional authority.

The National Assembly was prematurely dissolved on August 9 by the coalition government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), along with the assemblies in Sindh and Balochistan, to enable the electoral body to hold elections in the nation within 90 days rather than 60 days if the legislature completed its constitutional term.

The deadline for the polls is November 9, 2023, if the elections are to be held within the 90-day window.

However, the coalition administration had overwhelmingly authorized the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023 in a Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting before dissolving the legislatures.

The National Assembly seats are distributed to each province and the federal capital in accordance with population as determined by the most recent census, as stated in Article 51(5) of the Constitution.

Following CCI's consent, the ECP on August 17 announced the schedule of new delimitations that went beyond the November 9th constitutional restriction of 90 days, all but guaranteeing that the elections would likely take place after the 90-day threshold.

Based on the ECP's published schedule:

• Delimitation of the nationwide constituencies to be held from September 8 to October 7.

• Submission of proposals about constituencies is due between October 10 and November 8.

• A quota of national and provincial assembly constituencies will be distributed between September 5 and September 7.

• Four provincial constituency committees will be created on August 21.

• Administrative tasks pertaining to the constituency are due on August 31.

• ECP will deliberate on the objections to the constituencies between November 10 and December 9.

• The delimitation's final publishing date is December 14.