Punjab elections postponement: ECP’s decision in national interest, declares minister

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Thursday said that the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan to postpone the Punjab Assembly elections was in the interest of Pakistan.

“The Election Commission took the decision keeping in mind the economic, political and security situation”, she said in a statement.

The minister said that the ECP had saved the country from a big constitutional crisis and this decision would bring political stability in the country.

Marriyum Aurangzeb maintained that under Article 218 of the Constitution, the ECP has to ensure transparent, impartial and fair elections.

Article 224 required that at the time of elections, caretaker governments should be established at the federal and provincial level, she maintained.

The minister stated that the Election Commission took this decision after consulting all of the stakeholders.

There were reservations that because of one man’s ego, elections were being forced on two provinces, she said.

If elections in two provinces were held on April 30, it would have created a controversy for forever as the terms of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies would have ended six months before National Assembly and other two provincial assemblies.

The process of the census is going on in the country and it was not possible to hold elections in two provinces before the census and in other provinces after the census.

Castigating Imran Khan, she said the Constitution cannot act on the whims of one person who could violate it anytime, dissolve the assembly whenever he wants.

She said Imran Khan instigated his followers to injure the law enforcement agencies personnel, attack the ECP and storm the court premises.

She said one person could not dictate when the election should be held, and when the decisions should be made.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023