The government is engaged in backdoor consultation with the provinces and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to dissolve all the assemblies simultaneously to pave the way for holding national and provincial assemblies elections on the same day. This was stated by leader of the house in Senate Jehangir Bader while responding to a point of order raised by Senator Mohsin Leghari, an independent senator from Punjab.
The senator pointed out that there was confusion about dissolution of all the provincial assemblies simultaneously as they were formed on different dates. He also pointed out that the federal government had enforced governor rule in Balochistan, but as per law, it was neither validated through a joint sitting of the parliament within 60 days nor revoked. "There is a deadlock pertaining to the Balochistan assembly as the governor rule completed its 60 days today without any legal cover to it through a joint sitting of the parliament," he added.
He went on saying that the provincial assemblies were formed on different dates and the Balochistan assembly took oath on April 7, 2008 and it could not be dissolved without the consent of the provincial chief minister before the above mentioned date. Senator Bader said that backdoor negotiations were underway with the chief ministers and ECP to dissolve all the provincial assemblies on the same day so that it could be easy to form caretaker governments. However, about the constitutional deadlock on Balochistan Assembly, he said, he would inform the house on Wednesday after consulting the concerned authorities.
Senator Leghari also said that no local government elections were held during the last five years, which was a failure of the government. Bader responded that after 18th Constitutional Amendment, the local government system became a provincial subject and all the provinces were free to legislate and hold elections in their respective provinces.
Meanwhile, PPP senator Saeed Ghani through an adjournment motion drew the attention of the house towards what he said issuing of derogatory statement by the members of the election commission against parliamentarians, which he felt was a breach of privilege. He recalled the ECP had previously stated that any amendment in the nomination papers could not be made without getting approval from the President, but all of a sudden it had changed its mind and issued a statement that it had unlimited powers to amend the nomination papers without approval of the President under article 218.
PPP minister Maula Bux Chandio said that politicians themselves were hatching conspiracies to undermine the powers of the parliament. He was of the view that the ECP was crossing its constitutional limits. He also said that the ECP had violated the law by imposing a ban on employment and development schemes before announcement of the election schedule. PML-N senator Jafar Iqbal said there was no harm if the ECP had made amendments to bar corrupt people from contesting elections.