ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi on Friday announced April 30 as the date for Punjab provincial assembly elections, hours after the country’s election oversight body proposed dates for the conduct of polls.

The Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) statement about dates for Punjab polls came days after the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces should be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the provincial legislatures.

The controversy was triggered when former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and allies dissolved the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial assemblies in January, in a bid to force the government of PM Shehbaz Sharif to announce nationwide polls.

Last month, President Alvi, a close Khan aide, also announced elections in both provinces on April 9, but the government said Alvi did not have the authority to make such a call. The tug of war between the government and the opposition PTI prompted the apex court to intervene in the matter, asking the ECP to propose a date that “deviates to the barest minimum” if the 90-day deadline was not met.

“President Dr. Arif Alvi has announced the date of 30th April 2023 (Sunday) for holding the general elections of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab,” read a tweet on the president’s official Twitter account.

“He announced the date after considering dates proposed by Election Commission of Pakistan.”

In its statement, the ECP had proposed Punjab elections between April 30 and May 7.

“The election commission is ready to discharge its constitutional and legal duties after the selection of the date by the president,” the ECP statement read.

The election regulator further said it had sent a letter to the KP governor, seeking a response in view of the apex court verdict.

The two provinces account for more than half of the country’s 220 million population, while Khan’s party has been gambling on the Sharif government being unable to afford to hold the provincial elections separately from the nationwide election, which is otherwise due by October. 

Under the Pakistani law, fresh polls for the two provincial assemblies should be held within 90 days of their dissolution.