PESHAWAR: Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali on Wednesday signed the proposal to dissolve the provincial assembly which was sent to him by Chief Minister Mehmood Khan a day ago.
Speaking to JEE News, the Governor confirmed that he had signed the advisory sent by the Chief Minister.
“I, Haji Ghulam Ali, Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, under clause (1) of Article 112 of the Constitution of 1973, immediately dissolve the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Thereafter, the Provincial Cabinet is also dissolved.” will go,” the governor wrote in a letter sent to Chief Minister Mehmood and Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly, Akram Khan Durrani.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly now stands dissolved! pic.twitter.com/Ev0wWFvbBn
— PTI (@PTIofficial) January 18, 2023
The letter further mentioned that in terms of Clause (4) of Article 224-A of the Constitution, “the incumbent chief minister Mahmod Khan shall continue to hold office to perform day-to-day affairs of the province till the appointment of the caretaker chief minister”.
The Governor said that as per Article 224(1A) of the Constitution, the Caretaker Chief Minister is to be appointed “by the Governor in consultation with the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Provincial Assembly” within a specified period. Three days as provided by Article 224-A(1), the office of the Governor shall be available for consultation without any formal appointment till the expiry of the said period.
It is important to note that unlike his Punjab counterpart, who did not sign on to Chief Minister Pervez Elahi’s advice, Governor Ghulam Ali moved swiftly to dissolve the provincial legislature.
Governor Balighur Rehman had refused to sign the summary of dissolution of the assembly, saying “I have decided not to be a part of the process of dissolution of the Punjab Assembly. I will let the constitution and the law take their course.”
Now that Governor KP has dissolved the assembly, the process for the appointment of caretaker chief minister has started.
How is the interim chief minister appointed?
Article 224 of the Constitution defines the process of appointment of caretaker government at the Center and the provinces.
Since the elections are going on in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, we will include only provincial level officials in the caretaker government.
Mehmood will continue his duties as Chief Minister for a few days until the caretaker government is established.
Of all the elected representatives, the only incumbent is the Speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, who will hold office until the newly elected legislators are sworn in and elect their replacements.
For the establishment of a caretaker government, Chief Minister Mehmood will write a letter to the leader of the opposition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and ask for three names for the caretaker chief minister within 48 hours of the dissolution of the assembly and will propose three names himself.
If an impasse between the two leaders continues for three days, the Speaker will form a six-member committee of the outgoing Assembly with equal representation from the Treasury and the opposition.
The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition will send two candidates to the committee.
The committee will then have three days to reach consensus on a name. If this also fails, the names of the nominated candidates will be sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan for a final decision within two days.
The selected candidate will perform his duties as the interim chief minister till the formation of the new government in the province. He also has the power to include the caretaker chief minister in his cabinet.
After the appointment of caretaker chief minister, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is bound to hold general elections in the province within 90 days.
The electoral body can conduct the elections within 22 to 45 days as constitutionally at least 22 days are required to scrutinize the nomination papers of the candidates.
Candidates will be given 29 to 30 days to campaign.
