ISLAMABAD: The ruling coalition of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Monday accused President Dr Arif Alvi of violating the constitution by announcing election dates for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies in a bid to please his party leader Imran Khan.

Speaking in the National Assembly, the Minister for Law and Justice, Azam Nazeer Tarar, said that the president has violated the constitution by giving the election date which “we condemn”.

He said that Article 48 (5) of the constitution only allows the president to announce a date for the election after dissolution of the National Assembly by him.

It is to mention that Article 48 (5) says, “where the President dissolves the National Assembly, notwithstanding anything contained in clause (1), he shall appoint a date, not later than ninety days from the date of the dissolution, for the holding of a general election to the Assembly and appoint a caretaker Cabinet.”

No consultation possible on elections, ECP tells President Alvi

The minister said that Article 105 (3) allows the governor to announce the date in province if he had dissolved the provincial assembly, adding Punjab Assembly was not dissolved by the Governor, after his reservations refusal to dissolve the assembly, the provincial assembly got dissolved after 48 hours. He said that the issue in question related to governor is subjudice and the court will decide about it not the president.

Tarar referred to Article 218 (3) of the Constitution and said that the Election Commission of Pakistan has the authority to conduct the election.

As per Article 218 (3), “It shall be the duty of the Election Commission to organize and conduct the election and to make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the election is conducted honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against.

The minister said that those talking about the Constitution had themselves violated the Constitution in the past also. He said that National Assembly was dissolved within three minutes by the President after the ruling of the former Deputy Speaker.

The apex court, he said, even declared the ruling of the ex-Deputy Speaker and decision of the President to dissolve the National Assembly as unconstitutional.

He said that President even refused to take the oath from Prime Minister elected as per constitution. He said that President is violating constitution only to please his leader and he has no jurisdiction to announce the general elections in provinces.

Speaking on the floor of the house, Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif termed President Arif Alvi’s announcement of election date for the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as “abrogation of the constitution”.

“President Arif Alvi’s announcement of the election date for the provincial assemblies is unconstitutional, and law will take its course on the breaking of the constitution,” he added.

He alleged that President Alvi seems preferring to follow the party line instead of respecting the constitution, adding according to the constitution, the president can announce election dates for elections on federal level only, and not for the provincial assemblies.

Barjees Tahir of PML-N, Agha Rafiullah of PPP, and others also said that the election date announcement by the president is “unconstitutional”.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023