ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi announced on Friday April 30 as the date for Punjab Assembly elections.

President Dr Arif Alvi’s office in a tweet on Friday said the decision was taken by the president after “considering” the dates suggested by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a letter on Friday in the light of Supreme Court’s Wednesday verdict.

Earlier, the ECP letter had suggested possible dates to the president — between April 30 and May 7 — for elections in Punjab.

The ECP’s decision was taken at the electoral body’s meeting presided over by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.

After the crucial meeting, the ECP issued a press release that said: “The Election Commission has sent a letter to the president in light of the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in which the dates for holding the elections in Punjab have been suggested between April 30 and May 7, 2023,” an ECP press release.

The letter also stated that the commission was prepared to fulfill its constitutional and legal duty once the date for elections was selected by the president.

A letter written to KP Governor as well

The press release also said that the ECP had written a letter to the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) stating that the electoral body was waiting for his response regarding the date for polls in the province.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the elections to the Punjab and KP assemblies should be held within the stipulated period of 90 days.

It, however, left the matter to the discretion of the ECP to propose a poll date that deviates from the 90-day deadline by the “barest minimum.”

The verdict also maintained that President Arif Alvi and the KP governor would fix dates for Punjab and KP assemblies, respectively, in consultation with the ECP.

In the general elections of 2018 former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was the majority party in Punjab and KP.

After his ouster in April 2022 from the office of the Prime Minister, Imran demanded general elections in the country and launched countrywide protests for that purpose.

Dissolution of the Punjab and the KP assemblies was part of his pressure tactics.

However, despite the dissolution of assemblies in these two provinces the PML-N-led present coalition government at the Centre was reluctant to announce polls dates there and kept postponing the announcement of dates for general elections. Last week, however, the Supreme Court took suo motu on this matter and on Wednesday March 1, directed elections in the two provinces within 90 days.