ISLAMABAD: In response to a letter from President Dr. Arif Alvi, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said it hoped that the president would use “better choice of words” when talking to other constitutional institutions.
In the letter, the president’s words were criticised, and it was said that “the office of the president is the highest constitutional body and the president is head of state, while all other constitutional and legal bodies are required by the constitution to treat the president with the utmost respect.”
“We are sure that it is fair, and we expect this prestigious office to act as a parent to other constitutional bodies.”
It also said that the ECP follows the Constitution and the law, and that its job is to run elections, while the president and governors are in charge of announcing election dates.
“The Election Commission knows that it is required by the Constitution to organise and run the election, and it has taken all the steps it needs to do so. Article 48(5) and Article 105(3) of the Constitution make it clear what the president and the governor of a province do. It would not be out of place to mention this here.
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It also said that the Constitution doesn’t give the election watchdog the power to set a date for a general election to a dissolved assembly.
Also, “Article 48(5) of the Constitution says that if the president dissolves the National Assembly, he must set a date for the election and appoint a caretaker cabinet,” and “Article 105(3)(a) says that he must set a date for General Elections to the assembly and appoint a caretaker cabinet.”
In the letter, it was said that the Lahore High Court (LHC) had ordered a meeting with the governor about the provincial assembly elections, and that ECP officials had met with governors. But the governor didn’t say when the election would be held. Instead, he said he “intends to approach the legal forum.”
The letter comes soon after the president wrote to the chief election commissioner that a lot had happened since his last letter to the ECP on February 8. For example, the LHC had ordered the commission to announce the date of elections in Punjab as soon as possible, and the Supreme Court had recently made some observations.
He said he was unhappy with the election watchdog’s “apathy and inaction” because it hadn’t replied to his first letter yet.
The president wrote that he had “waited anxiously for the ECP to realise its constitutional duties and act accordingly, but he was very upset by the election watchdog’s sad approach to this important matter.”
