ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s decision to postpone the general elections of the Punjab Assembly may be an indirect indication that the election exercises for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will not be conducted before October 8. .
In its order late on Wednesday night, the election body changed the date of the Punjab Assembly polls to October 8 from the earlier scheduled April 30, which experts say indicates that the KP assembly general elections will now be held. It will be the same with other provinces. Legislature as well as National Assembly.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has already announced to challenge the ECP decision in the Supreme Court. “According to the order, the Election Commission and Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali consulted twice, but instead of giving a date for the elections, he sent a long letter explaining the law and order, security and financial situation in the province.” A senior ECP official said when contacted here by JEE News.
The governor said that May 28 will be the date of general elections in his province. However, he did not formally announce a date during his meeting at the ECP and after that, he wrote to the commission and asked it to address various challenges before going to polls.
Citing media reports and the governor’s letter, the official said that almost all political parties could not take as much interest in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elections as political stakeholders in Punjab due to the security situation.
After Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman refused to be a part of the process, which resulted in the dates of elections in Punjab being fixed, the President fixed two dates for holding the election exercise in the province namely 30 April and 7 May ( Sunday) suggested. President of the country Dr. Arif Alvi had fixed the date of 30 April for this purpose.
However, after a briefing by the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, senior military officials, intelligence agencies and the Chief Secretary and IGP of Punjab, the commission issued an order to postpone the elections in the province, mainly citing security and law. What did and order-related reasons.
“We have done our mandate with respect to Punjab as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and we cannot do anything beyond that.
“We have not canceled the elections but have advanced the date under Section 58 of the Election Act, 2017 and informed the President accordingly,” the senior official added.
Section 58 of the Act states, “Change in election programme: Notwithstanding anything contained in section 57, the Commission may at any time after the notification under sub-section (1) of this section make such changes in the election. Program (EP) for the various stages of elections announced in this notification or may issue a new EP, as in its opinion to be recorded in writing shall be necessary for the purposes of this Act: Provided that the Commission inform the President thereof. Any change in the EP made under this sub-section”.
Another senior official of the commission, when asked about fixing October 8 as the date for the elections in Punjab, said that this date is also the day for the general elections of the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies. can be interpreted.
He clarified that the present National Assembly came into being on August 13, 2018 and therefore its last day is August 12. The Election Commission has to hold the polls within 60 days, although October 11 is the last day of the deadline, October 8 has been fixed as it falls on a Sunday.
Under Section 57 of the Act, the President shall announce the date or dates of general elections after consultation with the Commission.
Former Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Dilshad told this correspondent that the election body’s order is based on hard facts, as explained by stakeholders, who made presentations to the commission in recent days. He claimed that the commission proceeded with the given situation by following the constitution and law.
He pointed out that when former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, the Election Commission on its own changed the election program from January 8, 2008 to February 18, 2008. The Pakhtunkhwa Assembly is being convened before October 8 and this is implied in the date given by the Commission in its order for Punjab.
