As the government keeps insisting on holding general elections simultaneously across the country, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday notified October 8, 2023, as a polling day for the polls of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to ECP, the date of the poll has been conveyed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Governor Ghulam Ali in compliance with orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in Suo Moto case no 1 of 2023, Constitutional Petition no 1&2 of 2023.
It said the election programme would be issued in due course of time.
The ECP has already postponed the Punjab elections to October 8 on the pretext that it could not hold the polls in a transparent and peaceful manner on the scheduled date of April 30.
It said the election could not be held in Punjab under the circumstances conveyed by the law enforcement agencies, defence, finance and interior ministries, and others who all opposed the polls on various grounds.
On March 1, the Supreme Court ruled that the elections to the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies should be held within the stipulated period of 90 days. It had, however, allowed the ECP to propose a poll date that deviates from the 90-day deadline by the “barest minimum”, in case of any practical difficulty.
On Mar 10, the ECP later wrote separate letters to the president and the KP governor. In the letter to President Dr Arif Alvi, the electoral watchdog proposed dates between April 30 and May 7 for the elections. Alvi later the same day announced that elections in Punjab would be held on April 30.
The matter of delay in the general elections to the provincial assemblies of the KP and Punjab again landed in the apex court after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) filed a contempt of court against the ECP after the electoral body rescheduled elections in Punjab.
The ECP notification regarding the date of KP election was issued at a time when the matter is still being heard by a five-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial.
The federal government has been opposing the early elections. It says that elections should be held on the same day once the incumbent government completes its constitutional term.
The government side argues that holding elections separately would increase political crisis. Both sides, however, admit that the deadlock has led to political instability and deteriorated economic situation.
The PTI chief has been holding rallies and protests in different cities to force the federal government to call an early election in the country. The dissolution of the Punjab and K-P assemblies was also part of his efforts for early elections.
The Punjab Assembly was dissolved by then chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in January on the instructions of PTI Chairman Imran Khan. Imran had also ordered the dissolution of the K-P Assembly, which was also dissolved in the same month.
