After receiving poll orders from the LHC, the ECP goes into action.
Tomorrow, the CEC will hold a meeting of high-level officials to review the implementation of court rulings.
ISLAMABAD: In light of the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) directives to hold elections quickly, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) started the process on Saturday to consider and finalise the timetable of the Punjab Assembly elections.
The chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, has called a high-level meeting for Monday, February 13, at the commission secretariat, according to a statement from the election monitor.
The Lahore High Court’s decision will be discussed at the meeting, and it will be decided what steps will be taken to implement the ruling and hold the general election for the province parliament.
The PTI and, more recently, President Dr. Arif Alvi have been the loudest voices calling for the election supervisory body to announce the date of the polls. Dr. Arif Alvi requested the commission to issue the election calendar for the Punjab and K-P provincial assembly right away.
President Alvi stated in a letter to CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja today that Article 224(2) of the Constitution requires the election of an assembly to take place within 90 days after the dissolution.
In order to ensure that elections were held not later than 90 days as required by the Constitution, the LHC directed the ECP to quickly announce the date of the Punjab Assembly elections after consulting with the governor, who serves as the province’s constitutional leader.
After the parliament was disbanded, Justice Jawad Hassan granted petitions from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and others asking that the governor and ECP announce a date for the province’s general elections right away.
According to the ruling, Article 105 of the Constitution makes it clear that it covers two scenarios: the first scenario deals with the situation where the governor exercises his constitutional right to dissolve the assembly on the advice of the chief minister, while the second scenario deals with the scenario where he (the governor) abstains from exercising his constitutional rights and the assembly stands dissolved by the op
