President writes letter to CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja
\nISLAMABAD
\nPresident Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday proposed the date on November 6 as the date for the country\u2019s general elections in a letter written to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.
\nIn the letter sent to the CEC, the president said the National Assembly was dissolved on August 9 on the advice of then prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.
\nCiting Article 48(5) of the Constitution, he said it \u201cempowers and mandates the president \u2018to appoint a date not later than 90 days from the date of the dissolution, for the holding of a general election to the Assembly\u2019\u201d.
\nThe president said that in terms of Article 48(5), the general election to the National Assembly should be held by the 89th day of the date of dissolution of the National Assembly, i.e. Monday, November 6, 2023.
\n\u201cIn an endeavour to fulfil the constitutional obligations, the Chief Election Commissioner was invited for a meeting to devise the modalities of implementing the Constitutional intent and mandate who in reply took a contrary view that as per the scheme of the Constitution and framework of electoral laws, it was the domain of the Election Commission, and following publication of last preceding census on 07.08.2023, duly notified delimitation of constituencies was in progress, a mandatory requirement stipulated by Article 51(5) of the Constitution and section 17 of the Elections Act, 2017,\u201d Dr Alvi said in the letter.
\nHe said that the federal law ministry was also of a similar view as that of the ECP chief, adding that all four provincial governments are of the view that the announcement of the election date is mandate of the ECP.
\n\u201cThere is a consensus that to strengthen the federation and to promote unity and harmony amongst provinces and to avoid incurring of unnecessary expenses, general elections to the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies must be held on same day,\u201d he added.
\nThe president said that it was the responsibility of the ECP to abide by all the constitutional and legal steps stipulated under Articles 51, 218, 219, 220 and the Elections Act, 2017 for organising and conducting free and fair elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking into account all the above, the Election Commission of Pakistan in consultation with provincial governments and political parties under the relevant provisions of the Constitution and in view that some of these matters are already subjudice, may seek guidance from the superior judiciary for announcement of a single date for general election to the national and provincial assemblies,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s announcement came in the wake of divided opinions about the date for the polls among the stakeholders, raising concerns of another constitutional crisis in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President writes letter to CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja ISLAMABAD President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday proposed the date on November 6 as the date for the country\u2019s general elections in a letter written to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja. In the letter sent to the CEC, the president said the National Assembly […]<\/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-355735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n