ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Wednesday urged Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar to hold general elections on time while describing the people’s right to vote as the essence of the country’s democracy.
Kakar’s interim government will oversee the upcoming national polls after the dissolution of the lower house of parliament last week. While it is constitutionally required to supervise the elections within 90 days, there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the date amid political and economic crises prevailing in the country.
The timing of the next general elections has also become a matter of debate since the previous administration of Shehbaz Sharif endorsed the results of a digital census which was carried out earlier this year in May.
This implies that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will have to redraw hundreds of national and provincial constituencies before holding the next elections which can be a time-consuming process.
“The timely holding of elections is crucial to public trust, upholding democratic values, and ensuring a smooth transition of power,” PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a letter to the caretaker PM on behalf of his party’s core committee.
“We, therefore, call upon you to ensure the holding of elections on time, but no later than the constitutionally mandated period of ninety days after the dissolution of the national assembly,” he continued. “It must also be ensured that these elections are free, fair, and transparent that reflect the genuine will of the people of Pakistan.”
Qureshi maintained the issue of fresh delimitation of constituencies raised by the ECP after the approval of census results “cannot be taken as a pretext to delay the elections as the timeline contained in the constitution is clear and cannot be stretched.”
He also questioned the “belated” endorsement of the census result by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) while pointing out that the government body also included chief ministers of all provinces.
He noted the chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had failed to hold general elections in their respective provinces within the stipulated constitutional period, adding that his party intended to challenge the CCI decision in the relevant court of law.
The PTI vice chairman also expressed concern over the incarceration of his top party leader, Imran Khan, while expressing confidence that Pakistan would come out of its current crises under the leadership of the caretaker PM.
