ISLAMABAD
\nThe Ministry of Law and Justice Wednesday sent a reply letter to the President over the issue of giving an opinion to the President on the date of general elections.
\nThe ministry told the President in the letter that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has the authority to give the date of the elections. In the letter, the Law ministry said that the right of announcing the date of election rests with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
\n\u201cAccording to Article 48(5) of the Constitution, where the National Assem\u00adbly is dissolved by the President, he shall appoint a date for election and appoint a caretaker cabinet in accordance with the provision of Article 224 or as the case may be under Article 224-A,\u201d the ministry said in the letter.
\nUnder Article 58, the letter noted, the President shall act on and in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister and such advice shall be binding on him. \u201cAn advice sent under Article 58a shall take effect within 48 hours\u201d, it added.
\nThe ministry further said that the system will witness a distortion if President\u2019s authority to give election date is accepted. \u201cThe purpose of amending the Election Act was a single authority can give date of elections,\u201d it added.
\nThe development came after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja responded to President Alvi\u2019s letter for meeting to \u201cfix an appropriate date\u201d for general elections, saying that participating in such a meeting would be of \u201cscant importance\u201d after changes to the election law.
\nThe president had written to Sikandar Raja Sultan, inviting him for a meeting regarding holding general elections in the country. In his letter, President Alvi quoted Article 244 of the Constitution, saying he was duty-bound to get the elections conducted in the 90 days\u2019 prescribed period once the National Assembly is dissolved prematurely.
\nResponding to the latter, ECP CEC said it was \u201cimperative\u201d to point out that Section 57 of the Elections Act had been amended due to an act of Parliament, which had empowered the commission to \u201cannounce the date or dates for the general elections\u201d.
\n\u201cWhere the president dissolves the National Assembly, in his discretion, as provided in Article 58(2) read with Article 48(5) of the Constitution then he has to appoint a date for the general elections. However, if the assembly is dissolved on the advice of the prime minister or by afflux of time as provided in Article 58(1) of the Constitution, then the commission understands and believes that power to appoint a date or dates for elections rests exclusively with the Commission.
\nCEC Raja said that the delimitation of constituencies, after the approval of the digital census, was one of the \u201cfoundational legal steps\u201d towards holding polls. He further said that the ECP was taking its responsibility of holding general elections in the country \u201cvery seriously\u201d and had also invited major political parties to give their views on the electoral map.
\nEarlier, it was reported that the ECP decided to hold general elections in the second week of February 2024.
\nSources privy to the development said that the election commission is likely to issue general elections schedule after December 2023. \u201cThe election schedule will be issued 54 days after the completion of the delimitation process,\u201d said sources with ECP. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD The Ministry of Law and Justice Wednesday sent a reply letter to the President over the issue of giving an opinion to the President on the date of general elections. The ministry told the President in the letter that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has the authority to give the date of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-352672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n