ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Arif Alvi on Wednesday wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, inviting him for talks either today, Wednesday, or on Thursday to fix an 'appropriate' date for the upcoming general elections in Pakistan. 

Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of the outgoing prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on August 9 before the official five-year tenure of the assembly was set to expire on August 12. 

According to Pakistan's constitution, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is bound to hold elections within 90 days when assemblies are dissolved before their official tenure expires. The polls, however, are likely to be delayed as the ECP has to redraw hundreds of federal and provincial constituencies based on Pakistan's latest population census results. Last Thursday, the ECP said it would finalize the exercise by December 14, effectively delaying polls beyond 90 days from the date of dissolution of the National Assembly. 

In his letter to Raja, the president said he was bound by Article 48 (5) of Pakistan's constitution to declare a date for upcoming elections not later than 90 days from when the assembly was dissolved. 

"Foregoing in view, the Chief Election Commissioner is invited for a meeting with the President today or tomorrow to fix an appropriate date," the letter concluded. 

On Tuesday, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said his government would rule only for a “limited period of time” to fulfill its constitutional mandate of organizing general elections in Pakistan. 

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have both rejected the timeline for redrawing of national and provincial constituencies announced by the election regulator. The ECP, however, says it is constitutionally bound to "delimit constituencies after every census officially published.