Lawyers’ moot asks President Alvi to announce elections within 90-day period

ISLAMABAD: All Pakistan Lawyers Representative Conference on Tuesday urged President Dr Arif Alvi to “fulfil constitutional responsibility” and announce a date for general elections within the stipulated 90-day period, ARY News reported.

All Pakistan Lawyers Representatives Conference was held today in the office of the Pakistan Bar Council, Supreme Court Building Islamabad, with Haroon-ur-Rashid, Vice-Chairman and Haan Rata Pasha Chairman Executive Committee Pakistan Bar Council in the chair.

The lawyers moot discussed matters pertaining to current ‘constitutional crisis’, holding of general elections, raids on house of lawyers and registration of FIRs against them and price hike including exorbitant increase in electricity and petrol prices.

According to a statement, the conference expressed “grave concern over the speculations about the delay in general elections”.

The conference demanded from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold “free and fair general elections within a period of 90 days as provided in Article 224 of the Constitution”.

It also urged “President of Pakistan to play its constitutional role and announce the date of general elections in order to uphold the Supremacy of the Constitution”.

Meanwhile, the lawyers also expressed concerns over the recent exorbitant increase in electricity bills and petroleum prices.

“This has made the life of citizens miserable on one hand and on the other, the privileged class including the government officials and the public sector corporations are enjoying free electricity, gas, petrol and other facilities, which amounts to billions of rupees,” the statement added.

The house demanded that such privileges of all officials of the state or public sector corporations enjoying free of charge facilities on state expenses be stopped. “The facilities available to elite class and a common man should be the same and there should be no discrimination”, it added.

The statement came amid a standoff between President Alvi and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on who has the authority to decide the final date for general elections in Pakistan.

Earlier in August, the Ministry of Law told President Arif Alvi that he has no role in the announcement of date for general elections “following the amendment in Elections Act”, ARY News reported.

The law ministry forwarded its response to President Alvi’s letter, seeking opinion on Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) stance that “only it had the authority to decide the election date”.

In the letter, the Law ministry said that the right of announcing the date of election rests with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The development came after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja responded to President Alvi’s letter for meeting to “fix an appropriate date” for general elections, saying that participating in such a meeting would be of “scant importance” after changes to the election law.

The president had written to Sikandar Raja Sultan, inviting him for a meeting regarding holding general elections in the country.

In his letter, President Alvi quoted Article 244 of the Constitution, saying he was duty-bound to get the elections conducted in the 90 days’ prescribed period once the National Assembly is dissolved prematurely.

Responding to the latter, ECP CEC said it was “imperative” to point out that Section 57 of the Elections Act had been amended due to an act of Parliament, which had empowered the commission to “announce the date or dates for the general elections”.

“Where the president dissolves the National Assembly, in his discretion, as provided in Article 58(2) read with Article 48(5) of the Constitution then he has to appoint a date for the general elections. However, if the assembly is dissolved on the advice of the prime minister or by afflux of time as provided in Article 58(1) of the Constitution, then the commission understands and believes that power to appoint a date or dates for elections rests exclusively with the Commission.

CEC Raja said that the delimitation of constituencies, after the approval of the digital census, was one of the “foundational legal steps” towards holding polls.

He further said that the ECP was taking its responsibility of holding general elections in the country “very seriously” and had also invited major political parties to give their views on the electoral map.

Earlier, it was reported that the ECP decided to hold general elections in the second week of February 2024.

Sources privy to the development told ARY News that the election commission is likely to issue general elections schedule after December 2023. “The election schedule will be issued 54 days after the completion of the delimitation process,” said sources with ECP.