• ECP has decided not to respond to the President’s letter.
• The ECP will not seek the opinion of the judiciary on the polls.
• ECP maintains it has the authority to announce election day.

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided not to respond to the President’s letter regarding the general elections, BOL News reported citing sources.

Earlier this week, President Dr Arif Alvi wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and proposed that elections should be held by November 6.

However, the ECP has decided not to respond to the president’s letter nor seek guidance from the superior judiciary regarding the date for general elections.

In the letter, the President has talked about the election of the National Assembly, not the provincial assemblies, election commission sources said. If the governors announced separate dates for the provincial elections, a constitutional crisis will arise, sources added.

The sources said that if the president and governors give separate dates for elections, then the polls cannot be held simultaneously.

In the President’s letter, there is no question on the issue of election, but rather the president has suggested to approach the Supreme Court on the matter. Therefore, there is no reason to respond to the president’s letter, the sources added.

They added that the president can file a reference in the Supreme Court on the date of the elections. However, the ECP will not file a reference in the court. The ECP maintained it has the authority to announce the date for the general elections.

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President’s letter

The president’s letter comes against the backdrop of reports that the president would unilaterally announce a date for the elections. However, the president has make a suggestion rather than unilaterally announcing election date.

In the letter, the president said he had dissolved the National Assembly on the prime minister’s advice on August 9. The president cited Article 48(5) of the Constitution, which he said “empowers and mandates the president ‘to appoint a date not later than 90 days from the date of the dissolution, for the holding of a general election to the Assembly’”.

Hence, “in terms of Article 48(5), the general election to the National Assembly should be held by the 89th day of the date of dissolution of the National Assembly, i.e. Monday, 6th day of November 2023”, the letter read.

The president recalled in the letter that “in an endeavour to fulfil the constitutional obligations, the chief election commissioner was invited for a meeting to devise the modalities of implementing the constitutional intent and mandate”.

The president advised that the ECP, in “consultation with provincial governments and political parties under the relevant provisions of the Constitution and in view that some of these matters are already subjudice, may seek guidance from the superior judiciary for announcement of a single date for general election to the national and provincial assemblies”.