ECP snubs President Alvi on election date

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has told President Arif Alvi that the power to announce a date for the general election lies with the electoral body and not with the president following a recent amendment to the Election Act 2017.

The ECP has written a letter to the president in response to Alvi’s invitation to the chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, for a meeting on a possible election date.

Sources said that Raja has turned down the invitation from the president. He won’t be meeting Alvi.

The letter from the ECP said that while the ECP respected the position of the president, the amended Election Act 2017 empowered the body to announce an election date.

The president can set a date only when he dissolves the National Assembly himself under Article 58(2)b and not acting on the advice of the prime minister, said the letter.

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When the president dissolves the National Assembly acting on the advice of the prime minister under Article 58(1), the powers to set an election date lies with the ECP under the amended law, said the letter.

The Election Act 2017 was amended in June 2023 by the Parliament.