PM Shehbaz sends summary for NA dissolution to President Alvi

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif sent a summary to President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday night for the dissolution of the National Assembly (NA), ARY News reported.

The president dissolves the National Assembly (NA) on the advice of the prime minister under Article 58 of the Constitution. With the dissolution of the lower house of parliament, the current government’s tenure will also end prematurely.

The lower house of parliament would stand dissolved after 48 hours if President Alvi didn’t assent to the premature dissolution.

The prime minister, while addressing the National Assembly’s (NA) session earlier in the day, said he would write to President Dr Arif Alvi tonight to dissolve the National Assembly (NA), which would bring the government’s term to a premature end.

The government had announced that assemblies would be dissolved on August 9 (today), three days ahead of its mandated period, following which elections are to be held within 90 days.

Incumbent National Assembly’s full tenure will end on August 12 and if it completes its stipulated time then elections will be held within 60 days. However, the Constitution states that the polls must be held within 90 days if the assembly is dissolved before the completion of its tenure.

It would be liable to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold polls within 90 days if the summary is moved to dissolve the lower house on August 9 (tomorrow).

Before dissolution of the assembly, the government and the opposition required to agree over the caretaker set up to fill the gap before the next general election and installation of elected new government.

‘Elections likely to be delayed’

However, ministers have recently stated that there was a possibility of a delay in holding the next general elections as the Council of Common Interest (CCI) “unanimously” approved the 2023 census.

Khawaja Asif stated that there is a possibility of a delay in holding the next general elections.

“I do believe that elections will be held in November. But you asked me if there is a possibility of delay: There is a possibility of a delay but not more than a couple of months on technical grounds,” he said.

When asked whether the approval of the 2023 census would result in an election delay, Khawaja Asif said: “I cannot speculate at the moment but it is a possibility. I won’t rule that out.”

On the other hand, Rana Sanaullah said that the general elections would be held in the third week of February or the first week of March after new delimitations.