Pakistan minister hints at poll delay following LHC ruling
Dec 15, 2023
Islamabad [Pakistan], December 15 : Pakistan's Caretaker Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Murtaza Solangi on Thursday hinted at a possible delay in the holding of the next general elections in the country, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
The Express Tribune is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan.
This comes as the 54-day mandatory period for campaigning for the February 8, 2024, polls begins on December 16, but the three-day training of the officers responsible for supervising electoral activities was halted because of a Lahore High Court order over a PTI petition.
The interim information minister clarified that there was no delay on the government's part as it was ready to provide financial, administrative and security facilities to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
He said that the ECP had to suspend the training of the returning officers (ROs) just before the electoral body was set to announce the election schedule and formally begin the polls process following the LHC's decision.
On Wednesday, LHC's Justice Ali Baqar Najafi decided in favour of a petition filed by the PTI against the appointment of district returning officers (DROs), ROs, and assistant returning officers (AROs) from the bureaucracy of Punjab for the general polls.
The party in its plea also sought the court's assistance to appoint judicial officers as ROs.
The interim information minister, while expressing his views in different private TV news channels' talk shows, said the ECP had to give a mandatory period of 54 days for election campaigning to political parties, adding that this duration had to begin from December 16 if the polls were to be held on February 8 next year.
The minister said the court's decision had caused a setback and there was no change in the caretaker government's stance on the elections.
Solangi hoped that the ECP and judiciary would address the issue.
Although the interim minister did not name the PTI, he blamed the party for trying to delay the polls when he said the ECP was swiftly moving towards holding the general elections but a political party had apparently created hurdles for it.
Solangi said he was surprised at the attempt to create the possibility of a delay in holding the elections, as per The Express Tribune.
