ISLAMABAD: Acting in compliance with the Supreme Court order issued earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan yesterday night issued the much-awaited schedule for the general polls, set to take place on February 8, 2024, following the Supreme Court’s order.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja had earlier confirmed that the election schedule would be announced tonight. The polling process begins four days from today i.e., December 19, when the returning officer (RO) will issue a public notice, while the ECP also resumed the training for the ROs and district returning officers (DROs).

The election programme also applies to the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and four provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan. The commission issued the election schedule late at night in line with the Supreme Court's orders.

In a hiccup to the polling process, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had suspended the commission's notification for the appointment of the ROs and DROs from the executive branch in defiance of the SC's orders. The LHC's verdict was issued on a petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) the same party that had called for timely polls in a plea filed in the Supreme Court.

Due to the LHC's order, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja met with senior officials to ensure that everything went according to plan. Following detailed deliberations, the commission filed a petition in the top court seeking the annulment of the LHC's order.

The SC accepted the plea a few hours back, putting the process back on track. The political parties had also voiced concerns against a possible delay in the elections, noting that it was crucial for the democracy that polls take place on February 8. In a statement a day earlier, the ECP had also rebuffed claims of the PTI that the upcoming general polls could be delayed, claiming that "all preparations" were completed. Upon the advice of then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Alvi dissolved the 15th National Assembly three days before the completion of its 5-year term.

The former government prematurely dissolved the lower house to ensure that the polls were scheduled 90 days later in line with the Constitution. However, that did not seem to happen, as the commission had said that it could not follow up on the 90-day deadline as it had to work on fresh delimitation of constituencies after the Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved the results of the 2023 digital census The ECP did that because Section 17(2) of the Elections Act states that “the commission shall delimit constituencies after every census is officially published” which is in contrast with the constitutional deadline.

In October, the Raja-led ECP announced that the polls would be staged in January next year, but did not announce the exact date, and in return, received flak. In response to the ECP’s decision to hold the polls later than the constitutional deadline, the PTI and several others filed a plea in the top court seeking timely polls.

On the same plea, the SC ordered the ECP and the president to consult, which resulted in a consensus date of February 8. But that did not seem to shut down the rumour mill and fears of the political parties who repeatedly voiced concerns that since the election schedule hasn’t been announced, the polls would be delayed. PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari had also said that a delay of “eight to 10 days” in the general elections would make no difference.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 16 2023

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