 "Pakistan Prez invites top election official for meet to set date for polls")
Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Wednesday invited the top election official of the country for a meeting to set a date for the upcoming general elections.
Alvi wrote a letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, citing the constitutional requirement for the president to decide a date for general elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly (NA).
The National Assembly was dissolved on August 9 which makes it mandatory for the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold polls within 90 days after the dissolution. However, the ECP is set to delay the election in order to carry out delimitation in the light of the new census, which is also a constitutional requirement.
The president wrote a letter to CEC for a meeting to be held "today or tomorrow to fix an appropriate date for general elections, according to the letter posted on platform X through the President's account.
Alvi wrote that "by virtue of Article 48(5) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the president is obliged to appoint a date not later than 90 days from the date of dissolution for the holding of general elections of [the] assembly.
The invitation for the meeting comes in the wake of the ECP announcing a new delimitation process which would be completed by December 14 and after that the election schedule would be announced.
The ECP is in fix as it cannot fulfill the two obligations of holding elections within 90 days and also determine new electoral districts.