ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he was launching his preparations for elections from today, Thursday, after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that polls in Punjab, the country’s most populous and politically important province, would be held on May 14.

The ECP’s announcement comes after weeks of political turmoil as Khan pushed for assembly elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces as part of a campaign to force an early general election that he has waged since being forced from office a year ago after losing a vote of confidence. The coalition government is reluctant to hold the votes now as it struggles with an economic crisis as well as rising militant attacks.

“We are all preparing for elections, we have started our election preparations,” Khan said in an address to his supporters. “From tomorrow [Thursday], I will start interviewing all aspirants, all candidates, for tickets, I will finalize all tickets within ten days.”

“I want to tell my nation you must also prepare fully for elections and under no circumstances will we let them [the government] run away from elections.”

Provincial assemblies in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces were dissolved in January by Khan and his allies in a bid to force early general elections since Pakistan historically holds the provincial and national elections together. According to Pakistan’s constitution, elections must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of a legislative assembly.

However, the ECP said a lack of funds and security concerns would not allow it to hold the elections within the deadline and the government agreed saying it was not possible to organize the provincial elections while the country was struggling with an economic crisis and with a general election due around early October anyway.

But in a landmark judgment this week, the Supreme Court ruled that the delay was illegal and voting in the two provinces should be held between April 30 and May 15. The ECP subsequently announced polls in Punjab on May 14 and said a revised list of candidates would be published by April 18.