PPP leader Nisar Khuhro announced on Sunday that the party will stage a protest across Sindh on April 25 (Tuesday) against piecemeal elections in the country, saying that the province will not let Pakistan be divided into two parts.
“Sindh will only accept one-day polls, not piecemeal elections,” he said.
The announcement comes as the country sees an impasse regarding elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab — where assemblies were dissolved earlier this year. While the PTI has been adamant about holding polls in the provincial legislatures, the government maintains its stance on holding polls across the country on the same day.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court (SC) — while hearing a PTI petition — had directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold general elections to the Punjab Assembly on May 14. However, the government had rejected the apex court’s orders.
After repeated back and forth last week, the SC on Thursday afforded a temporary respite to the country’s main political parties, giving them a week to develop a consensus on the date for elections to the provincial and national assemblies, so they could be held simultaneously across the country.
In a statement issued today, the PPP’s president for Sindh said that demonstrations will be held in all district headquarters of the province against separate polls.
According to Section 69 of the Elections Act, 2017, polls should be held to all national and provincial assemblies on the same day, Khuhro said, claiming that separate elections were equivalent to dividing the country into two parts.
“The provincial elections [in Punjab and KP] are planned to influence the election results of the national and other two provincial assemblies [Sindh and Balochistan],” the PPP leader said. “Do not become a tool in Imran Khan’s conspiratorial ambitions.”
He went on to say that it was only the prerogative of the ECP to decide the date for elections and it should be allowed to do so.
“Interfering with the powers of the Election Commission would be an attempt to rig the elections,” he added.
Khuhro further called on the top court to review its April 4 orders by forming a full court.
“If necessary, the KP and Punjab assemblies should be restored and caretaker governments can be set up after which elections can be held across the country on the same day,” he added.
Election impasse
Earlier this month, the SC had directed the government to provide Rs21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by April 10, and directed the electoral body to provide a report on whether or not the government complied with the order on April 11.
However, the government referred the matter to Parliament which defied the court’s orders and refused to issue the funds.
Last week, the electoral watchdog had submitted a report to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope. Though the contents of the report are not known, a source privy to the information told Dawn that the one-page report informed the apex court about the government’s reluctance to issue the Rs21bn needed for the purpose.
Subsequently, the court had directed the SBP to release funds worth Rs21bn for elections from Account No I — a principal component of the Federal Consolidated Fund worth Rs1.39 trillion — and send an “appropriate communication” to this effect to the finance ministry by April 17.
Following the top court’s orders, the central bank on Monday allocated the funds and sought the finance ministry’s nod to release the amount.
The federal cabinet’s approval was required to release the amount from the FCF, while the government has to get the National Assembly’s approval for its release. But the same day, the coalition government managed through the NA the rejection of its own demand for the provision of Rs21bn as a supplementary grant to the ECP for holding polls in the two provinces.
On Tuesday, the ECP, defence ministry and finance ministry submitted their respective reports in court.
The ECP report said that the staggering of elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was not feasible since it involved significant expenditures compared to holding of polls on the same day.
In its report, the defence ministry highlighted the need of holding the elections on the same day given the heightened security situation in the country. It also said that the armed forces would be able to carry out election duties by early October.
On the other hand, the finance ministry said that in the wake of the rejection on part of the National Assembly to a government-sponsored motion to grant Rs21bn to the federal government for meeting expenditures, other than charged, during the financial year ending June 30, 2023, in respect of the ECP for holding the elections in Punjab and KP, it was difficult to sanction the release of the funds.
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