ISLAMABAD – President Arif Alvi has decided to withdraw a notification regarding announcement of a date for general elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Senior lawyer Salman Akram Raja told this to the five-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan during the hearing of the suo motu case regarding an apparent delay in elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab where assemblies were dissolved in January.
On Feb 20, President Alvi announced that general elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwas will be held on April 9 as the Election Commission of Pakistan and governors of the provinces could not announced a date despite dissolution of the assemblies.
During the today hearing, Raja, who represented the president in the case, said Alvi would soon withdraw the notification only regarding the announcement of date for elections in KP. Since the KP provincial assembly was dissolved by the governor, he had the authority to give the date for the elections, the lawyer said.
He further said the notification regarding election date in Punjab would not be withdrawn as its assembly was not dissolved by the governor.
“The Governors of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are not performing their constitutional duties for appointing a date, not later than ninety days from the date of dissolution of Provincial Assemblies as per the Constitution of Pakistan. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is also not fulfilling its constitutional obligation for holding polls for the Assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Both the constitutional offices are placingthe ball in each other’s court, resulting in delay and creating a serious danger that constitutional provisions may be violated,” the president had said in a letter sent to the Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Feb 20.
Alvi highlighted that the Section 57(1) of the Elections Act, 2017, empowered the President to announce the date or dates of the general elections after consultation with the Commission. He said as the efforts to consult with the ECP could not bear fruit therefore,” I have felt it necessary to perform my constitutional and statutory duty to announce the date of elections to avoid the infringement and breach of the Constitution and law”.
“Therefore, in exercise of powers conferred upon me under Section 57 (1) of Elections Act, 2017, I,hereby, announce the date of9th April, 2023 (Sunday)for holding of generalelections of the Provincial Assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.The Election Commission of Pakistan is obliged under the law to issue ElectionProgramme in accordance with Section 57 (2) of Elections Act, 2017,” the president had said.
President Alvi announces general elections in Punjab, KP on April 9
