President Arif Alvi proclaimed Monday that elections would take place in April, announcing that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab governors — Haji Ghulam Ali and Baligh Ur Rehman — and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were not fulfilling their constitutional duties to declare the date for polls in both provinces.
The president asserts that he reached out to the election commission for consultations over the date of the polls, but the ECP seemed “indifferent” and neither governor took initiative to ensure that the elections are held within 90 days of the dissolution of assemblies, as stipulated by the Constitution.
Punjab and KP assemblies were dissolved by the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on January 14 and January 18, respectively.
In response to a recent letter the president sent to the Chief Election Commissioner, the CEC insisted that the ECP could not announce a date on its own privilege and needed the consent of the governors — but there has been no breakthrough there as well.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) recently directed the electoral authority to hold discussions with the Punjab governor and “ensure that the elections are held not later than 90 days as per the mandate of the Constitution”.