ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said the tenure of his coalition administration would come to an end on August 14, adding the election regulator would then announce whether the country would go to polls in October or November.

The Sharif-led government came into power in April last year after former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from power in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. Khan demanded early elections in the country soon after that, though the government insisted to complete its stipulated term.

“I assure you that our government’s tenure will end on August 14, and whenever the elections will take place, either in October or November, the Election Commission of Pakistan will announce it,” Sharif said while addressing a ceremony related to educational development in Pakistan.

“I pray that whichever government comes into power gives number one priority to education as the country will not progress without it.”

The prime minister made the announcement a day after meeting Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the top leader of the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance, wherein it was agreed to hold general elections in the country on time.

Last month, Pakistan’s upper house of parliament approved a bill seeking to amend the Elections Act, 2017, with an aim to grant autonomy to the country’s election regulatory body in setting election dates without any need to consult other state institutions.

The development followed political friction between Pakistan’s superior judiciary and parliament earlier after the top court took up a case related to election delays in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party dissolved provincial legislatures in January.

The Supreme Court announced the Punjab polls on May 14 and instructed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to make necessary arrangements for the contest, despite reservations from ECP officials on administrative and financial grounds. The court also instructed the country’s central bank to release the required funds and submit a compliance report.

As the government accused the judiciary of “trespassing” on the parliamentary domain, the ECP requested legislation that would empower it to make more autonomous decisions while conducting national elections.

Pakistan’s law minister Azam Nazir Tarar said during the debate over the bill in the Senate that the ECP had already been empowered by the 1973 constitution to announce election dates on its own.

However, an amendment made by the regime of former military ruler General Ziaul Haq changed this and transferred the authority to the president.