LAHORE / ISLAMABAD: After the Election Co­­m­­mission of Pakistan (ECP) for­m­ed a three-member panel to consult the Pun­jab governor reg­arding the date for elections to the Punjab Assembly, Governor Balighur Rehman has summoned a “consultative meeting” on Tuesday with stakeholders to decide the matter.

The meeting, which will be attended by ECP officials, the Punjab chief secretary and provincial police chief, has been summoned at Governor’s House in light of the Lahore High Court (LHC) ruling, which ordered the ECP to announce the date for elections in consultation with Mr Rehman.

Separately, Chief Election Commi­ssi­oner Sikandar Sultan Raja held a meeting with commission members and the ECP secretary in Islamabad to “review” the LHC verdict. According to the ECP, its secretary, special secretary, and director law will attend the “consultative meeting” to be chaired by the governor on Tuesday. “The governor will brief the ECP so that it may consider the future course of action,” the ECP said on Monday in a statement.

A source privy to the development told Dawn that the governor’s consultative meeting with the ECP and other top provincial officials may find “yet another plausible excuse” to avoid giving a date for the elections in the province.

Sources say huddle may find ‘another plausible excuse’ to delay elections; interim CM places onus for giving poll date on election watchdog

“The governor is likely to stick to his stated stance that since he had not endorsed dissolution of the provincial assembly on then chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s advice, he was not supposed to announce a date for the general election in the province, leaving the matter to the ECP,” the source claimed. “And it is also unlikely that ECP would ignore its earlier stance [in the meeting with the governor] and announce the election date in compliance with the LHC’s order,” added the official source.

“Since the federal coalition government has been in no mood whatsoever to hold the polls in Punjab and KP within 90 days, it has decided to resort to delaying tactics with the help of ‘elements’ in institutions,” it further said. The ECP earlier had cited several hurdles in the way of the elections.

“The federal government had not issued funds to us to conduct the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Besides police, the high court also refused to provide its civil judges to us (ECP) for the election purpose,” the ECP contended.

When asked about the possibility of elections within 90 days, a PML-N leader told Dawn, “Forget the elections of both the provinces in 90 days. Elections of national and provincial assemblies will be held on the same day either after the federal coalition completes its term this August or maybe later than that.”

Meanwhile, Punjab interim CM Mohsin Naqvi also passed the buck to the ECP. In a conversation with journalists at the CM’s secretariat, Mr Naqvi avoided giving any direct response with regard to his government’s mandate to hold the polls in 90 days.

“We are adhering to the guidelines set forth by the ECP as the elections in Punjab will be held whenever the election watchdog directs us about it,” he said.

In reply to a question about the ‘large scale’ transfers and postings in the province, CM Naqvi said, “All transfers and posting in Punjab are being done on the directions of ECP.”

On the other hand, the PTI is considering filing a contempt of court petition in the LHC. On Monday, a citizen filed a contempt petition against the ECP and Governor Rehman for not implementing the LHC’s order to announce the election date in Punjab forthwith.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2023