President House seeks law ministry’s opinion on ECP’s response to Alvi’s letter

The President’s House on Thursday sought the opinion of the Ministry of Law and Justice on the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) response to the letter of President Dr Arif Alvi.

In a letter to the Secretary of the Ministry of Law and Justice, the President’s House sought an opinion on the position of the ECP that only it had the authority to announce the election date.

The development comes after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja turned down President Alvi’s invitation to set a date for elections. He said appointing a date for general elections rests exclusively with the ECP.

On Wednesday, the President had written to the CEC, seeking a meeting to “fix an appropriate date” for general elections.

In his reply, the CEC said that Section 57 of the Elections Act had been amended due to an act of Parliament, which had empowered the ECP to announce dates for general elections.

“Where the president dissolves the National Assembly, in his discretion, as provided in Article 58(2) read with Article 48(5) of the Constitution then he has to appoint a date for the general elections,” read the reply.

“However, if the assembly is dissolved on the advice of the prime minister or by afflux of time as provided in Article 58(1) of the Constitution, then the commission understands and believes that power to appoint a date or dates for elections rest exclusively with the Commission.”

Raja further said that the ECP believes reliance placed on the provisions of the Constitution mentioned in the President’s invitation letter is not applicable in this context.

He added that the ECP is taking its responsibility of holding general elections in the country very seriously and believes that participation in a meeting with the President would be of “scant consequence.”

ECP invites political parties for consultation

Meanwhile, ECP has invited major political parties in the country to hold a consultation on general elections, it was reported on Wednesday.

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary Information Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed that the party had received an invitation from ECP. The development was shared on the official account of PMLN on X.

As per media reports, ECP has written invitation letters to at least four political parties – PTI, PML-N, PPP, and JUI-F, to hold discussions on the elections.