Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) secretary-general Nayyar Hussain Bokhari has said his party wants timely general elections in Pakistan and any delay is not acceptable. Bokhari in his statement said PPP understands the supremacy of the constitution. Our stance is clear on elections he said. He said, today, people are facing the brunt of inflation and held the PTI government responsible for this current economic turmoil.
PTI government violated the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which destabilised the country’s economy, Bokhari said. Delay in elections will not provide relief to any political party, he made it clear. Commenting on the smear campaign against IHC CJ Justice Aamer Farooq, the PPP leader said state-enmity should be discouraged. Last week, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Executive Committee (CEC) decided to advocate the organisation of the general elections in 90 days after the dissolution of the Natioanl Assembly. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari chaired the session of the PPP CEC to make key decisions including general elections and consultations with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Meanwhile the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday said it would wrap up the delimitation of national and provincial assembly constituencies “as soon as possible” and ensure that polls were immediately held after the exercise. The assurance was held out to delegations of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), who had consultative meetings with the ECP on the roadmap to polls. Earlier this month, the ECP ruled out elections this year, following the notification of the latest 2023 digital census.
Since the National Assembly was dissolved three days before the end of its constitutional term, Article 224 of the Constitution mandates that elections be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the assembly.But at the same time, Section 17(2) of the Elections Act states that “the commission shall delimit constituencies after every census is officially published.