NA Speaker proposes single-day elections owing to economic crisis

ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly (NA) Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Sunday emphasised the need for a swift resolution to the country’s economic crisis and suggested that holding general elections on single-day could be a step towards achieving this goal.

Speaking to a gathering, he said that political parties need to think beyond politics for the survival of the country and suggested holding general elections in the country on a single day in view of the economic situation of the country.

The NA speaker said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) emphasized the need for coordination among politicians to address the ongoing crises in the country.

“The PPP has always believed in the power of dialogue and collaboration to solve the problems facing our country,” he said. “We urge all political parties to come together and work towards a common goal of improving the lives of the people of Pakistan.”

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said, “the doors of dialogue are always open in politics, and we should take advantage of that to bring all parties to the table and work towards a common goal.”

He expressed the hope that the present government would be able to get the country out of the crisis very soon.

He spoke about his party’s commitment to solving public problems and praised the efforts of the present coalition government in addressing the country’s challenges.

He said that the people who joined the People’s Party would live up to their trust. The Pakistan People’s Party has pledged to prioritize resolving the issues faced by the people of Gujjar Khan, he added.

Earlier, President Arif Alvi announced April 30 as the date for elections in Punjab following the Supreme Court’s (SC) verdict in holding elections within 90 days.

The announcement from President Alvi comes after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) proposed dates for the election in the province in light of the Supreme Court (SC) verdict.

“President Dr Arif Alvi has announced to hold general elections of Punjab Assembly on April 30, Sunday,” tweeted the President’s office. “The decision was made by the president after considering the dates proposed by the Election Commission of Pakistan,” it added.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) today proposed Punjab election date between April 30 and May 7 in a letter written to President Arif Alvi.

SC verdict

The Supreme Court, in a 3-2 verdict, ruled on Wednesday that elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab should be held within 90 days.

CJP Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar supported the verdict, while Justice Jamal Mandokhail and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah opposed the admissibility of the suo moto notice and dissented from the majority verdict.

Justice Shah and Justice Mandokhail in their dissenting notes agreed with the position of Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Athar Minallah. “The matter was already being heard in the high courts, Supreme Court cannot take suo moto notice on the undertrial cases in the high courts.”

The short verdict stated that the Election Commission of Pakistan failed in discharging its role in the election. The announcement of the election date in KP is the responsibility of the provincial governor, while the president has the authority as per law and constitution to fix the election date in Punjab.

The verdict further stated a consultation to fix the date of elections in Punjab, if they are not possible on April 9, the date announced by the president.