Pakistan President Arif Alvi proposes November 6 as election date to chief election commissioner

Pakistan President Arif Alvi has proposed November 6 as the date of national elections in a letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, on Wednesday (September 13), as per Dawn report.

President Alvi, in the letter, stated that he had dissolved the National Assembly on August 9 on the Prime Minister’s advice.

He also mentioned Article 48(5) of the Constitution, which he said “empowers and mandates” the president ‘to appoint a date not later than 90 days from the date of the dissolution, for the holding of a general election to the Assembly’.

Hence, “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, 6th day of November 2023”, the letter stated.

The president recalled in the letter that “in an endeavour to fulfil the constitutional obligations”, the chief election commissioner was invited for a meeting to plan the modalities of enforcing the constitutional objective and directive.

But in his reply, the CEC “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 the publication of last preceding census on August 7, 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”, Dawn quoted the letter.

“Further, there is a consensus that to strengthen the federation and to promote unity and harmony amongst provinces and to avoid incurring unnecessary expenses, general elections to the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies must be held on the same day,” it further stated.

He then conceded that it was the ECP’s responsibility to follow all the constitutional and legal steps defined under ‘Articles 51, 218, 219, 220 and the Elections Act, 2017’ for organising and conducting free and fair elections.

President Alvi suggested that the ECP, 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”, Dawn reported.

(With inputs from agencies)

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