Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice-President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Sunday urged President Arif Alvi to approach the Supreme Court under advisory jurisdiction to seek the removal of the caretaker governments of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as they are not empowered to remain in power beyond the 90 days granted by the Constitution to conduct elections.
In a letter to Alvi, Fawad accused the federal government and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of breaching the Constitution. Noting the Constitution allowed for elections to be conducted under the supervision of interim governments, which have the sole authority to manage day-to-day affairs and not take any major policy decisions, he said the stipulated time period for them had expired due to a delay in polls by the ECP and the government. “Therefore, the incumbent caretakers with the tacit approval of the ECP, in violation of all mandatory laws and standards of propriety have been permitted to embark upon the uncharted territories and it is indulged in taking major policy decisions, including posting and transfers of the officials to affect the transparency and fairness of the elections,” he alleged.
Stressing that the Constitution did not provide for any extension to the interim setup, he said the present caretaker governments “cannot be termed lawful and they must be considered ‘usurpers’ imposed by the Election Commission and they are liable to be removed forthwith.” In this regard, he urged the president to refer the matter of the interim government’s term completion to the Supreme Court to “address this blatant unconstitutionality.”
The PTI dissolved its governments in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Jan. 14 and 18, respectively, aiming to pressure the ruling coalition into holding early general elections nationwide. However, the government has refused to budge from its stance of conducting elections in October after the expiry of Parliament’s constitutional term and elections in both provinces have been delayed beyond their constitutionally permitted 90 days. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court declared the ECP’s decision to hold polls in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Oct. 8 as “unconstitutional,” and ordered for polls to be conducted in Punjab on May 14. There is still no clarity on when elections would take place in KP.