President Arif Alvi on Wednesday urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to “immediately announce” the date for polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and put an end to “dangerous speculative propaganda” on both the provincial assembly and general elections.
The Punjab and KP assemblies were dissolved on Jan 18 and Jan 14, respectively, after former prime minister Imran Khan had announced that his governments in the two provinces would dissolve their assemblies to pave the way for fresh elections.
In a letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, Alvi said that the election of an assembly is to be held within 90 days of the dissolution as provided by Article 224(2) of the Constitution.
He highlighted 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 conveyed that it was ultimately the commission, which if it failed to discharge its functions and duties, was to be held responsible and answerable for the violation of the Constitution of the country.
Alvi stressed that he was under the oath “to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” being the head of the state.
He reminded the CEC and other ECP members about their fundamental duty as per their oath under Article 214 and Third Schedule of the Constitution, which 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 president went on to say that one of the oldest democracies of the current era, the United States of America, was strong because “it has never delayed its elections”.
“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,” he stated.
The ECP, President Alvi continued, has itself already taken an appropriate constitutional step and announced the holding of bye-elections on the National Assembly seats of various differently situated constituencies.
“It will thus be in the fitness of things and in accordance with Constitution and law i.e. Elections Act, 2017, to immediately announce the date of polls by issuing election schedule and put an end to such dangerous speculative propaganda for these and future general elections,” he added.
