PESHAWAR: Leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Tuesday said delaying election to the provincial assembly beyond the 90-day mandatory period was a breach of the Constitution.

They accused Chief Minister Azam Khan’s caretaker government in the province of committing that constitutional violation.

Speaker of the last KP Assembly Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani told reporters on the premises of the high court here that it was the prime responsibility of the caretaker government to conduct free and fair elections to the provincial assembly but the CM Azam Khan-led caretaker setup comprised representatives of all political parties.

He said that every political party had a “quota in the caretaker cabinet.”

Asks caretaker CM to quit, saying governor handling govt affairs

“The incompetent caretaker government is coming up with excuses for not holding elections within the 90-day deadline, but we [PTI] are approaching all available forums to press the government for fulfilling its constitutional responsibility on the electoral exercise,” he said.

Mr Ghani was accompanied by PTI leaders, including former provincial governor Shah Farman and former ministers Kamran Bangash, Shahram Khan Tarakai and Shaukat Yousafzai, after the party petitioned the high court against the “delay” in the provincial assembly elections.

The last assembly’s speaker said that the PTI had sacrificed its governments in two provinces, including KP and Punjab, for fresh elections.

He said polls should be held without delay in line with the orders of the Supreme Court.

“We [PTI] have pinned our hopes on the high court, which, we firmly believe, will announce the election date soon,” he said.

Mr Ghani said that the caretaker chief minister was helpless as the affairs of the caretaker government as well as the province were handled by the governor.

“The caretaker chief minister should step down to prevent his good repute from further damage,” he said.

On the occasion, former governor Shah Farman said that the Supreme Court had ordered the holding of elections in Punjab within 90 days of the dissolution of the provincial assembly, but the government was delaying polls on different pretexts.

“I see several members of the government being charged under Article 6 of the Constitution [over a delay in elections],” he said.

Mr Farman said that the PTI was the province’s most popular party and would sweep elections, so the ruling parties didn’t want to face it in the electoral arena and were delaying polls.

Former minister Shahram Tarakai said on one hand, the ruling parties celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the Constitution and called for adherence to the Constitution in letter and spirit but on the other, they weren’t willing to meet the constitutional requirement of holding elections within the stipulated time.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2023