General election for Punjab Assembly to be held on April 30th
JAVED KHAN
PESHAWAR
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor Haji Ghulam Ali on Tuesday proposed May 28 as the date for general election to the provincial assembly in a meeting with the Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and other senior officials of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Earlier, the governor Haji Gulam Ali in a meeting with the ECP officials in Peshawar had failed to develop a consensus on the poll date.
The president Dr Arif alvi has already fixed April 30th as the date for polls in Punjab after the Supreme Court’s verdict in a suo motu case concerning elections to the Punjab and KP assemblies.
According to a press release issued by the President’s secretariat, the KP governor called on President Dr Arif Alvi at the Aiwan-i-Sadar and discussed matters related to the holding of general elections in the two provinces.
It is pertinent to mention here that despite the dissolution of assemblies in these two provinces the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led present coalition government at the centre was reluctant to announce polls dates in Punjab and KP and kept postponing the announcement of dates for general elections.
The fate of the polls in the two provinces was hung in the balance for many weeks after the dissolution of assemblies. The KP governor was not announcing the date despite the repeated request for a date by the ECP.
Haji Ghulam Ali in a letter to the electoral watchdog had opposed the general election in KP on the pretext of a poor law and order situation.
He had advised the commission to hold adequate consultation among the relevant stakeholders, including all political parties before fixing a suitable date for polls in KP. Subsequently, the caretaker government of the province on advice of governor KP held a special meeting and assessed the overall security situation in the province for holding the general election.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court stepped in and ruled that the elections to the Punjab and KP assemblies should be held within the stipulated period of 90 days.
The ECP was instructed to hold a meeting with the president for the polls date in Punjab and instructions were issued with certain observations for governor Haji Gulam Ali to consult the electoral watchdog and fix a date for election in the province.
The apex court ruling rubbished all speculations regarding the delay in general elections to assemblies of the above-mentioned provinces.
After the court verdict, the President Arif Alvi fixed the date for polls in Punjab and finally governor Gulam also in the light of the ruling proposed May 28 as a date for general election in KP.
It is to note here that when Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan was removed as prime minister after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament he launched a drive for fresh elections in the country.
After his ouster in April 2022 from the office of the prime minister he announced different dates for the dissolution of the Punjab and KP assemblies to press the government of coalition parties for general elections in the country.
