Courtesy PID
The Ministry of Law and Justice on Wednesday responded to President Arif Alvi, informing him that the mandate to announce a date for general elections rested with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and not the president.
Last week, the president had written to the law ministry seeking its advice on his role in announcing a date for elections after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja rejected his request for a meeting to set an election date, stating it would be of “scant consequence” after amendments to the Elections Act, 2017. In his request for a meeting, the president had cited Article 244 of the Constitution, stating it mandated him to give a date for elections no later than 90 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly.
The law ministry’s response, not publicly released, also refers to the amendments to the Elections Act, noting after their passage, the president no longer has the power to appoint a date for elections. According to local media, it said that Article 48(5) empowers the president to set a date for general elections to the National Assembly only in the case where the lower house has been dissolved by the head of state by “invoking Article 58(2) of the Constitution of Pakistan.”
It said that under the present scenario, the NA had been dissolved on the advice of the prime minister in terms of Article 58(1) of the Constitution. “It may kindly be noted that the advice under Article 58(1) has a more binding effect than the advice under Article 48(1),” media outlets quoted the response as sating, adding that Article 58(1) did not permit the president to send advice back for reconsideration.
“The advice under Article 58(1) becomes effective at the expiry of 48 hours, which itself manifests that there is no discretion vested in the president to do anything but follow the advice,” it stated, adding that Article 48(5) does not cover the dissolution of the National Assembly under Article 58(1).
The letter further states that even if the president’s opinion is accepted, he would only be the competent authority to appoint a date for general elections to the National Assembly and not the provincial assemblies. This, it stressed, would defeat the purpose of holding and conducting elections simultaneously nationwide, as in “every likelihood,” it could result in separate dates for all legislatures.