ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sultan Sikander Raja has decided not to meet President Arif Alvi and declined his invitation for consultation.
President Arif Alvi had written a letter to the CEC for consultation on fixing a date for the elections.
The CEC, prior to declining the President’s offer, held consultations in his office with his legal team and sent a reply from his office to the President stating reasons for declining the invitation.
Under the rules cited by CEC under the Elections Act 2017 (Amendment), only ECP can give the date of elections.
The act also has a number of amendments and changes are there in Section 57 as prior to that President had a mandate to be consulted before the announcement of the election date but after the changes, only the Election Commission can make the announcement, the CEC opined.
The official also stated in the letter that if the assembly was dissolved under Article 58 (2-B), only then President has the right to announce the elections.
The official also stated that references quoted by the President in his letter are ‘irrelevant’.
The Election Commission on the other hand asked teams from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and JUI-F for a meeting on elections.
The ECP started consultations with the political parties for election date as letters have been sent to the political parties.
President Dr Arif Alvi, in his letter to Chief Election Commissioner wrote that National Assembly was dissolved on the advice of the Prime Minister on August 9 with the mentioning of Article 48 of the Constitution, which states a 90 days period for holding elections.
