After the dissolution of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, following the Supreme Court’s order to fulfill the constitutional requirement of holding new elections within 90 days, President Dr Arif Alvi has announced that polling for the Punjab Assembly will be held on April 30. The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa says he will announce the date subject to law and order. In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, the Election Commission of Pakistan sent a letter to President Alvi, suggesting the dates of late April and early May for the elections in Punjab.
The Supreme Court’s decision has put the ECP on the right track, and the commission is now poised to carry out its constitutional and legal responsibilities. According to the commission’s notification, a letter has also been issued to the KP governor to conduct the polls, therefore, the date of the elections is likely to be announced shortly. Nevertheless, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has cautioned that conducting separate elections in the federation and provinces will add at least Rs15 billion to the national exchequer at a time when the country’s economic position is already dire. The prime minister met with Asif Ali Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rahman, but no formal statement was released.
While there have been instances of election delays in the past, the PDM leadership may launch a review appeal against the new judicial judgment. Asif Zardari believes that the ruling coalition should participate in elections since they have no other choice following the Supreme Court’s decision. Other leaders agreed to the suggestion and determined that elections should be held for party workers in both provinces. Nevertheless, there are rumours that Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Shahbaz Sharif did not agree with Asif Zardari’s plan to participate in the elections because they considered that, given the country’s present economic situation, it was not the ideal moment to compete with the PTI in the electoral arena. The situation demands that the stakeholders get ready for elections.
