PM Shehbaz summons meeting of ruling coalition tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has summoned a meeting of ruling coalition tomorrow in the wake of country’s current political situation, ARY News reported on Monday, citing sources.

Sources told ARY News that the prime minister has summoned the meeting of ruling coalition at PM’s House at 03:00pm.

The meeting would discuss matters related to Supreme Court (SC) decision and Punjab election, sources added.

Earlier, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to release funds for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) officials have submitted the complete record to the court and the officials from the finance ministry and State Bank briefed the court on the economic situation and election funds.

Source said that the judges made it clear that the court orders must be implemented, the Attorney General had to face the tough question on the stance of the government.

Later, the National Assembly standing committee on Finance has decided to forward the matter of releasing Rs21 billion funds to the National Assembly.

However, the demand for the disbursement of Rs21 billion additional funds for Punjab and KP elections was rejected by the federal government.

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said in a statement that the National Assembly has already passed a resolution regarding the provision of funds for the elections. He added that four judges of the Supreme Court (SC) gave their opinions against the suo motu notice.

Punjab election schedule

The Election Commission of Pakistan announced the schedule for elections in Punjab — which are to be held on May 14.

According to the electoral watchdog (ECP) notification, the polling for the Punjab Assembly elections will be held on May 14, 2023. The ECP also withdrew its earlier schedule regarding the holding of general elections in Punjab in October.

As per the schedule, appeals can be filed against the decisions of Returning Officers regarding rejection or accepting nomination papers on April 10.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Supreme Court declared the ECP’s order ro postpone the provincial assembly elections until October 8 as “unconstitutional” and ordered the government to release Rs21 billion funds for elections in Punjab by April 10 and directed to conduct Punjab polls on May 14.