Dr Arif Alvi discusses \u201cmany issues\u201d concerning general elections with interim Law Minister
\nISLAMABAD
\nPresident Dr Arif Alvi on Monday called for following the \u201cspirit of the Constitution\u201d with regard to the decisions taken on general elections in the country, his office said in a statement.
\nThe president made the appeal in a meeting with Caretaker Law and Justice Minister Ahmed Irfan Aslam at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. The meeting \u201cdiscussed many issues\u201d concerning the general elections. \u201cThe President appreciated the Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar\u2019s yesterday\u2019s statement that the caretaker government would abide by the judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on this issue,\u201d the communique added.
\nIt further said that President Alvi urged for the need to uphold the \u201csupremacy of the Constitution\u201d and called for decisions to be taken in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution.
\nThe meeting came days after it was reported that President Alvi held consultations with legal experts about the reply received from the Ministry of Law and Justice pertaining to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Syed Sikandar Sultan Raja\u2019s response to him regarding the election date.
\nLast week, the Ministry of Law and Justice had informed the president that it was of the view that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is the \u201ccompetent authority to announce or appoint date\u201d for holding and conducting general elections to the national and the provincial assemblies.
\nThe ministry, through its secretary, responded to the president\u2019s letter seeking the ministry\u2019s input on ECP\u2019s response that there was no need for the election watchdog to consult the president on appointing the election date.
\nBefore that President Alvi had written to the ministry to seek \u201cadvice\u201d on the ECP\u2019s letter contending that the head of the state is no longer empowered to fix the polls\u2019 date.
\nIn a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, the President House said that Alvi had written the letter to the ministry\u2019s secretary on the ECP\u2019s response with regard to the letter he had sent for a meeting to decide the election date.
\nThe ECP responded to the president\u2019s letter \u2014 in which he had invited Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja \u2014 stating he was no longer empowered to fix the date for polls after amendments in election laws.
\nThe development came in a meeting chaired by CEC Raja to ponder over the matter and concluded that the meeting would be of \u201cscant consequence\u201d.
\nDr Alvi, in the letter to the CEC, said since the National Assembly was dissolved on August 9, 2023, under Article 48 (5) of the Constitution, he (as the president) was obliged to appoint a date not later than 90 days from the date of dissolution for the holding of general election of National Assembly.
\nUncertainty around polls
\nThe Shehbaz Sharif-led government dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, while Sindh and Balochistan assemblies were also prematurely dissolved to allow the electoral authority to hold elections in the country within 90 days instead of 60 days if the legislature completed its constitutional tenure.<\/p>\n
However, the ECP may not be able to hold the polls within the stipulated time as the Council of Common Interest (CCI), days before the dissolution of the assemblies, approved the 7th Population and Housing Census 2023.<\/p>\n
The CCI meeting chaired by then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the final results of the census reporting the country\u2019s population at 241.49 million with a growth rate of 2.55%.<\/p>\n
The CCI approval made it constitutionally mandatory for the poll watchdog to hold elections following fresh delimitations in the light of the results of the 7th census.<\/p>\n
According to Article 51 (5) of the Constitution, the seats of the National Assembly to each province and the federal capital shall be allocated on the basis of population in accordance with the last preceding census officially published.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, on August 17, the ECP announced the schedule of new delimitations to be carried out as per the new census approved by the CCI.<\/p>\n
As per the schedule, the new delimitation of constituencies nationwide will be notified in December this year.<\/p>\n
The ECP schedule showed that fresh delimitation will take nearly four months, meaning the general elections in the country cannot be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the provincial and national assemblies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr Arif Alvi discusses \u201cmany issues\u201d concerning general elections with interim Law Minister ISLAMABAD President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday called for following the \u201cspirit of the Constitution\u201d with regard to the decisions taken on general elections in the country, his office said in a statement. The president made the appeal in a meeting with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-353754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n