President Asks ECP To Give Election Date For Elections In Punjab, KPK

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President asks ECP to give election date for elections in Punjab, KPK

The latest reports say that President Alvi has written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and reminded the ECP and its all members of their fundamental duties as per their oath.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Feb 8th, 2023) President Dr. Arif Alvi asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday to immediately to give the election date for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies.

The President wrote a letter while addressing Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja in this regard.

President Alvi said that the elections were due to be held within 90 days after dissolution of the assemblies under Article 224(2) of the Constitution.

He pointed out that the conduct and holding of elections was the Primary and essential duty of the ECP as per PART VIII of the Constitution, particularly Article 218 (3) which assigned the duty to the ECP to ensure the holding of fair and free elections.

The President also conveyed that it was ultimately the Commission, which if it failed to discharge its functions and duties, was to be held responsible and answerable over violation of the Constitution.

He also reminded the commission and its members of their duty as per their oath under Article 214 and Third Schedule of the Constitution which clearly says “I will discharge my duties……faithfully in accordance with the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan”, and the Elections Act, 2017 to avoid serious consequences of breach/violation of the Constitution/law and announce election schedule of the two dissolved assemblies forthwith.

The oldest democracies, he said, have never delayed elections even during the wars.

He said, “I am of the firm view that there are no such circumstances as may furnish any justification for delaying or postponing of elections, in fact if such postponements of constitutionally mandated elections are evaluated throughout the world in recent history, they have morphed into serious long term set-backs to democracy,”.

The president lauded ECP for taking an appropriate constitutional step by announcing the holding of by-elections on the vacated National Assembly seats.

The Punjab and KP assemblies were dissolved on Jan 18 and Jan 14, respectively, after former prime minister Imran Khan had announced to dissolve assemblies in an attempt to force the government for general elections.

Abdullah Hussain

Abdullah Hussain is a staff member who writes on politics, human rights, social issues and climate change.