LAHORE, Oct 1: The federal and provincial cabinets will stand dissolved as soon as new prime minister and chief ministers take over after the elections. The Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) under which they had been formed would also cease to exist.

This was stated by the federal Law Minister Dr Khalid Ranjha while talking to reporters after addressing the Allama Iqbal educational conference here on Tuesday.

He said the Constitution as amended by the Legal Framework Order (LFO) would stand revived and the oath would be administrated under the Constitution as stated by President Gen Musharraf.

He said parliament would be a sovereign and an independent body which could amend the Constitution as it wished and review the LFO. He said the Constitution was the supreme law of the country.

He rejected complaints of certain political leaders that the government was busy in pre-poll rigging.

He said it was due to the strict observance of the electoral laws and regulations that the electioneering was being conducted in the country peacefully unlike in the past when no discipline was observed.

Dr Ranjha said the government had fixed the election expenses, yet there was a possibility of excessive spending. Candidates would be required to submit their accounts of expenditure to the Election Commission as laid down in the election rules.

Replying to a question, he said political parties and their leaders were being given due coverage in electronic media and they were freely criticizing the government. It was live coverage over the PTV and the government has not put any restriction on their observations, he concluded.