Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Ghulam Ali on Monday invited the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to initiate an “active and meaningful consultative process” regarding the elections for the provincial assembly.

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the elections to the Punjab and KP assemblies should be held within the stipulated period of 90 days. It also held that President Dr Arif Alvi and the KP governor would fix dates for Punjab and KP assemblies, respectively, in consultation with the ECP.

On Friday, the ECP had written separate letters to the president and the KP governor. In the letter to Alvi, the electoral watchdog proposed dates between April 30 and May 7 for the elections while it told the KP governor that it was awaiting his response regarding the date for polls in the province.

It is pertinent to mention that President Alvi has announced that elections in Punjab will be held on April 30.

In a letter addressed to the ECP today, the KP governor said he was “cognisant” of the apex court’s direction and was “obligated to honour it in letter and spirit”.

The letter reproduced the relevant paragraphs of the SC order regarding the ECP’s availability to the governor for consultation on the election date and a direction to the electoral body to use its utmost efforts to immediately propose a date to the governor.

Governor Ali said the ECP was “welcome to attend his office” on Tuesday (March 7) or Wednesday (March 8) at 11am so the consultative process could be initiated.

Meanwhile, ECP Secretary Omar Hamid Khan told Dawn.com that the commission was “always ready” to hold elections. “We will engage with all institutions and I think everything will be okay in the country’s interests,” he added.

Punjab, KP election limbo

In a mammoth public gathering in November last year, former prime minister Imran Khan had announced that his party would disassociate itself from the “current corrupt political system” by quitting the two provincial assemblies where PTI was in power.

Despite several obstacles put up by the coalition government, the Punjab and KP assemblies were dissolved on Jan 14 and Jan 18, respectively. Under the law, the elections are to be held within 90 days after the dissolution of assemblies.

That means April 14 and April 17 were the deadlines for holding general elections to Punjab and KP assemblies, but the two governors instead of setting dates for elections after receiving the proposal from the ECP had advised the commission to consult stakeholders.

Chief secretaries and inspectors-general of the two provinces during meetings with the ECP had said they were short of police force and talked of terrorism threats, making out a case for putting off elections.

The finance division had also expressed its inability to provide funds and the interior ministry told the ECP that the army and civil armed forces will not be available.

On Feb 17, President Alvi had invited CEC Raja for an urgent meeting regarding consultations on election dates but the ECP told him he had no role in the announcement of dates for general elections to provincial assemblies and the commission was aware of its constitutional obligation in this regard.

Subsequently, the president unilaterally announced April 9 as the date for holding general elections for the Punjab and KP assemblies.

The move drew sharp criticism from his political opponents, who accused him of acting like a PTI worker while the ECP said it would announce the poll schedule only after the “competent authority” fixes the date.