Says general impression is that ECP will not hold provincial elections like it did in Islamabad. ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday slammed the Election Commission of Pakistan for not holding a meeting on Punjab general elections on Sunday) despite clear court orders. In a tweet, Fawad said: “The Election Commission should have held a meeting today for the polls, don’t make a joke of the Constitution and court orders.” He further criticized the commission, saying that the “general impression” is that since the Election Commission of Pakistan consists of “Munshis” (clerks/ personal assistants), it will not hold provincial elections like it did in Islamabad. “This fiddling with the constitution will cost the country dearly,” the former information minister warned.
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He told the ECP that the constitution is the only agreed document and if that is also “trampled, then the state of Pakistan will be in serious danger”. “Enough is enough, our movement for the supremacy of the constitution is ready. This movement will start with ‘Jail Bharo’ movement and continue till the restoration of the constitution,” said the PTI leader. PTI Chairman Imran Khan, had, on February 6 announced the “Jail Bharo” (Prison Stuffing) movement over the delay in the announcement of the election schedule in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP). “If the elections are not held within 90 days, we will start the Jail Bharo (Prison Stuffing) movement,” Khan had warned. An important meeting of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will be held today (Monday) to discuss the holding of general elections for the provincial assembly of Punjab after the Lahore High Court ordered the election body to announce a date for the polls at the earliest. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja will chair the meeting. The meeting of the ECP was summoned a day after Lahore High Court’s direction to hold elections in the province within 90 days of the dissolution of the assembly.
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According to the officials, the ECP would finalise the plan to implement the LHC verdict. The sources said that on Friday, a meeting of the top ECP officials considered President Dr. Arif Alvi’s letter to the CEC seeking immediate announcement of dates for elections to the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies. The Election Commission of Pakistan also discussed the Ministry of Interior’s letter refusing to provide army and civil armed forces personnel for security duties during elections. The paucity of funds, as told by the finance ministry, for the polling exercise also came under discussion during the meeting. It is to mention here that the finance ministry has refused to provide funds in the wake of the bleak economic situation. The meeting also discussed the security concerns feared by Punjab and KP’s chief secretaries and police chiefs. The Thursday’s LHC verdict said that the Punjab polls are to be held within the constitutional timeframe of 90 days. Justice Jawad Hassan passed the order allowing petitions of the PTI and others, seeking directions for the governor and the ECP to officially announce a date for the provincial assembly elections. The court had directed the Election Commission to immediately announce the election date after consultation with the governor, in his capacity as the constitutional head of the province.
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