Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Saturday replied to President Dr Arif Alvi’s letter inviting him to deliberate on the date for election.
The president had stated that he waited anxiously that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would realise its constitutional duties to proceed and act accordingly but was extremely dismayed by the commission’s poignant approach to this important matter.
The CEC wrote that the president's office was the top constitutional body, adding that the ECP expected it to be unbiased. “We expect the president will guide other institutions,” he added. The ECP, he said, would look forward to the president to use better words for the constitutional institution in the future.
The CEC penned that the president was supposed to give the date for the election only if the National Assembly was dissolved, but the governor was authorised to give an election date if a provincial assembly were dissolved. “The constitution does not allow the ECP to announce the date for elections,” he added.
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