The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that elections for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) provincial assembly will be held on October 8, the same date set for elections in Punjab. The decision follows a letter from K-P Governor Haji Ghulam Ali to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja proposing the election date due to a deteriorating law and order situation in the province. The ECP’s announcement came after consultations with the governor and the Supreme Court’s order to appoint the date for election of the Punjab Assembly and the K-P governor for his province in consultation with the ECP.
The general elections of the Punjab and K-P assemblies were due after the two houses were dissolved by their respective chief ministers in January. However, in the absence of the announcement of the election date, the Supreme Court took a suo motu notice and ordered the president to appoint the date for election of the Punjab Assembly and the K-P governor for his province in consultation with the ECP. The president gave the date of April 30.
The ECP’s decision came after KP Governor Ghulam Ali on Friday proposed October 8 for elections in his province as well. The Supreme Court had ruled on March 1 that elections in KP and Punjab should be held within 90 days, after the dissolution of provincial assemblies in January, or on a date that “deviates to the barest minimum” from the constitutional deadline.
The KP governor had invited the commission’s attention to several militant attacks and claimed that residents of tribal districts were protesting against the conduct of general elections before the announcement of new census results. According to the KP governor, the security situation in the province was completely different from that of Punjab.
Former prime minister Imran Khan had announced in a public gathering in November last year that his party would disassociate itself from the “current corrupt political system” by quitting the two provincial assemblies where PTI was in power. Despite several obstacles put up by the coalition government, the Punjab and KP assemblies were dissolved on January 14 and January 18, respectively. Under the law, the elections are to be held within 90 days after the dissolution of assemblies.
That means April 14 and April 17 were the deadlines for holding general elections to Punjab and KP assemblies, but the two governors instead of setting dates for elections after receiving the proposal from the ECP had advised the commission to consult stakeholders.
Chief secretaries and inspectors-general of the two provinces during meetings with the ECP had said they were short of police force and talked of terrorism threats, making out a case for putting off elections. The finance division had also expressed its inability to provide funds, and the interior ministry told the ECP that the army and civil armed forces would not be available.
On February 17, President Dr Arif Alvi had invited Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja for an urgent meeting regarding consultations on election dates, but the ECP told him he had no role in the announcement of dates for general elections to provincial assemblies and the commission was aware of its constitutional obligation in this regard. Subsequently, the president unilaterally announced April 9 as the date for holding general elections for the Punjab and KP assemblies.
The move drew sharp criticism from his political opponents, who accused him of acting like a PTI worker while the ECP said it would announce the poll schedule only after the “competent authority” fixes the date.
