Ex-PM Khan says his party won’t tolerate delay in election date

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday his party would not allow delay in elections while presiding over a meeting at his residence in Lahore to review the preparations for the upcoming polls in Punjab.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party ruled the country’s most populous federating unit before Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi signed a summary for the dissolution of its assembly earlier this month.
The decision was widely viewed to be in line with the ex-premier’s strategy to build pressure on the federal authorities to call snap polls in the country which he has been seeking since the downfall of his administration in a no-trust vote in April last year.
“No delay in election date will be tolerated,” Khan told his party members after being brief on PTI’s preparations.
According to Pakistan’s constitution, elections must be held within 90 days after the dissolution of a provincial assembly.
Khan also criticized his party’s main rival in Punjab, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), for not being serious about moving toward a caretaker setup that would supervise the polls.
“The names given by the PML-N for the caretaker chief minister are an expression of their lack of seriousness,” he continued. “The task of the caretaker government is to conduct clean and transparent elections.”
The PML-N had suggested names of people for the interim setup who are deemed to be close to its leadership.
Khan maintained no one could raise objections on the names recommended by his party, adding they should be acceptable to everyone.