President Alvi has announced that elections would be held in Punjab and KP on April 9.

ISLAMABAD, – On Monday, President Arif Alvi declared that elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will take held on April 9.

The president directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce an election schedule in compliance with Section 57 (2) of the Elections Act, 2017.

The president said in his letter to the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan (CEC) that he had taken an oath under Article 42 read with the third Schedule of the Constitution to maintain, safeguard, and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

He wrote that there was no impediment to invoking the power and authority vested in him under Section 57 (1) of the Elections Act, 2017, which empowered him to “announce the date or dates of the general elections after consultation with the Commission” because there was no restraining order from any of the judicial fora.

As a result, the president said that he was compelled to fulfil his constitutional and statutory obligation to announce the date of elections in order to prevent an infringement and violation of the Constitution and legislation, namely, conducting elections no later than ninety days.

According to President Alvi, the governors of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were not carrying out their constitutional obligations of designating a date not later than ninety days from the date of dissolution of provincial legislatures, as required by Pakistan’s Constitution.

He further said that the ECP was not performing its constitutional commitment to organise elections for the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa legislatures.

“Both constitutional offices are putting the ball in each other’s court, comparable to an Urdu proverb (pehlay aap, nahin pehlay aap – You go first, no after you),” he says, “leading in delay and generating a severe risk that constitutional requirements would be violated.”

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The president emphasised that the ECP had previously identified probable election dates in its numerous contacts to constitutional institutions, demonstrating its own obligation to organise elections within ninety days.

President Alvi stated that he had initiated a serious consultation process with the ECP under Section 57 (1) of the Elections Act, 2017 in order to announce the date for the general elections of the aforementioned assemblies; however, the ECP responded that the Commission would be unable to participate in a meeting on the subject with the President’s Office.

He said that he was declaring the date of April 9, 2023 for general elections to the provincial assembly of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the exercise of powers granted to him under Section 57 (1) of the Elections Act, 2017.

The ECP has called an emergency meeting to examine the elections in Punjab and KP.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) called an emergency meeting on Tuesday in response to the President’s declaration about conducting elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The meeting will go on the president’s announcement of election dates in both provinces.

According to the ECP spokeswoman, following receiving the president’s letter, the electoral watchdog will make any decision required by law.