President Arif Alvi has announced April 30 as the date for the general polls in Punjab, hours after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) proposed dates for the election in the province as directed by the Supreme Court (SC).
“President Dr. Arif Alvi has announced the date of 30th April 2023 (Sunday) for holding the general elections of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab,” tweeted the President’s office on Friday.
Dr Alvi’s office said that the decision was made by the president after “considering the dates proposed by the Election Commission of Pakistan”.
Earlier today, the ECP — in a letter to President Alvi — had recommended that the polls for the provincial assembly in Punjab be held between April 30 and May 07.
The election commission met today — the third consecutive meeting — with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja in the chair.
“The commission is ready to fulfil its constitutional and legal obligations after the selection of a date by the president,” the letter stated.
However, in a letter to Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ghulam Ali, the commission said it was waiting for his response in light of the SC order.
The Punjab and KP assemblies were dissolved on January 14 and January 18 respectively, and under the law, elections were to be held within 90 days after their dissolution.
However, after the governors’ refusal to fix a date for polls, the issue landed in the Supreme Court which directed the president to announce the election date in consultation with the commission.
It also ordered the KP governor to give an election date.
