ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Thursday said it had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for not announcing the “right date” for polls in the northwestern province.

The development came after the ECP, following the directives of the Supreme Court, announced that polls in Punjab, the country’s most populous and politically important province, would be held on May 14.

Provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were dissolved in January by Khan and his allies in a bid to force early general elections, as 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. 

The coalition government led by PM Shehbaz Sharif is reluctant to hold the provincial votes now as it struggles with an economic crisis and rising militant attacks. However, on Tuesday the Supreme Court ruled, in a petition filed by the PTI against the delay in elections in Punjab, that polls in the province be held on May 14.

“The speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly and the PTI have submitted a writ petition under Article 184(3) in the Supreme Court against KP’s governor and the Election Commission of Pakistan for not announcing the right date for polls in the province,” close Khan aide Taimur Khan Jhagra said in a video message posted to Twitter.

He said he hoped a date for elections in KP would be announced “in a few days” just like a date for votes had been announced by the Supreme Court for Punjab since the constitution was “very clear” about conducting elections within 90 days of an assembly’s dissolution.

“The constitution has already been violated [by the government and the ECP] as 79 days have passed, but we are trying to lessen the violation of the constitution,” he said, adding that after 11 days when the 90-day deadline expired, the caretaker government in KP would lose its value and its decisions would no longer carry any weight.

Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar also said general elections should be held across the country on the same date.