Islamabad, April 6 : Pakistan President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday wrote to the Election Commission of Pakistan(ECP) to propose dates for holding general elections in the country under Article 224(2) of the Constitution. This after the National Assembly deputy speaker dismissed a no-confidence motion against PM Imran and the president dissolved the lower house of Parliament on the former’s advice on April 3. While the Supreme Court is currently hearing the matter to decide the legality of the deputy speaker’s ruling and the subsequent actions and orders of the prime minister and the president, the president’s letter to the ECP stated that under Article 48(5)(A) and Article 224(2) of the Constitution, the president had to appoint a date, not later than 90 days from the date of dissolution of the National Assembly, for holding of the general elections. On Tuesday, ECP sources had expressed the inability of the electoral body to hold polls within three months citing various legal hitches and procedural challenges. However, later the election commission clarified that it had not issued any statement about holding of elections, but at the same time did not say whether it was ready to conduct the polls in three months. Meanwhile, sources informed that the electoral body had started considering options to carry out delimitation of constituencies in the minimum possible time.
