Punjab election date: Governor to approach LHC for clarity on his role, court order

After meeting with the electoral watchdog, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman said on Tuesday that he would approach the Lahore High Court (LHC) to seek clarity on its order for the immediate announcement of the date for provincial elections as well as his advisory role in this regard.

Last week, the LHC had ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to immediately announce the date for elections in Punjab while announcing its verdict on a plea filed by the PTI against the delay in holding polls.

In the wake of the LHC ruling, the ECP had for­m­ed a three-member panel to consult the Pun­jab governor who had summoned a “consultative meeting” today to decide the matter.

According to a press release from the Governor’s House today, Rehman presided over the consultative meeting and said certain issues in the LHC verdict, as well as aspects of the governor’s advisory role, needed some “interpretation and clarification”.

He said the court would be approached about the matter after consulting with constitutional and legal experts.

The meeting was attended by ECP Secretary Umer Hameed, Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman, Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar and other officials.

‘Governor does not want to take any extra-constitutional step’

Meanwhile, in a handout released after the meeting, the electoral watchdog quoted the governor as saying that since the provincial assembly was not dissolved on his orders, under the Constitution he was not authorised to give an election date.

According to the press release, the governor further told the ECP that his proposal would not be binding on the commission in such a situation.

The press release further said that the governor did not want to take any extra-constitutional step and thus refrained from giving a date for provincial elections.

Separately, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja summoned a consultative meeting of the ECP on Wednesday (tomorrow) at 12pm at the ECP Secretariat pertaining to the provincial assembly elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A source had earlier told Dawn that the governor’s consultative meeting with the ECP and other top provincial officials may find “yet another plausible excuse” to avoid giving a date for the elections in the province.

“The governor is likely to stick to his stated stance that since he had not endorsed dissolution of the provincial assembly on then chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s advice, he was not supposed to announce a date for the general election in the province, leaving the matter to the ECP,” the source had claimed. “And it is also unlikely that ECP would ignore its earlier stance [in the meeting with the governor] and announce the election date in compliance with the LHC’s order,” the official source had added.

“Since the federal coalition government has been in no mood whatsoever to hold the polls in Punjab and KP within 90 days, it has decided to resort to delaying tactics with the help of ‘elements’ in institutions,” it had further said. The ECP earlier had cited several hurdles in the way of the elections.

Delay in polls

The Punjab and KP assemblies — where the PTI had governments — were dissolved on January 14 and January 18, respectively, in an attempt to pave the way for snap polls.

On Jan 24, the ECP wrote letters to the principal secretaries of Punjab and KP governors, suggesting elections in Punjab between April 9 and 13, and in KP between April 15 and 17.

The PTI had on Jan 27 approached the LHC seeking orders for the Punjab governor to immediately announce a date for an election in the province.

The LHC had subsequently directed the ECP to immediately announce the date for elections after consultation with the governor, in his capacity as the constitutional head of the province.

President Arif Alvi had also urged the ECP on Feb 8 to “immediately announce” the date for polls in KP and Punjab and put an end to “dangerous speculative propaganda” on both the provincial assembly and general elections.

However, so far, the governors of the two provinces have refra­ined from providing any date for the polls on several pretexts.

Last week, KP Governor Haji Ghulam Ali met his Punjab counterpart Rehman and agreed that the country could not afford separate elections in the current circumstances and, therefore, polls for national and provincial assemblies should be held later this year after the completion of the federal government’s tenure in August.

“Pakistan can’t afford two separate elections as billions of rupees will be spent on the exercise,” the Punjab governor had told reporters after the meeting.

“As the general elections are going to take place later this year, demand for an early election in two provinces seems out of place keeping in view economic woes of the country.”

He had also hinted at a possible delay in polls, saying political forces should focus on finding solutions to fix the financial and security situation and not the elections.

The government’s intention not to hold polls in the two provinces within 90 days has added to the PTI’s frustration which has linked its ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’ with the inordinate delay.