Caretaker govt has nothing to do with election date: Murtaza Solangi

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi on Tuesday said that the caretaker government is only responsible to assist the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and has nothing to do with the date for general elections, ARY News reported.

Speaking to ARY News’ programme ‘Khabar with Mehar Bukhari’, the caretaker minister said that following the amendment in the Elections Act, authority to set date for general elections rests with the ECP.

However, Murtaza Solangi reiterated, the caretaker government will extend all out support to the Election Commission for holding general elections in the country.

To a question regarding decision on issue of electricity bills, he said the government need to take International Monetary Fund (IMF) on board.

“Caretaker Minister for Finance Shamshad Akhtar is in touch with the IMF authorities and decision in this regard will be made soon,” the minister assured.

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.