'We are ready': Bilawal wants ECP to announce election date
Pakistan
Says general elections should be held within 90 days
KARACHI (Dunya News) – Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Friday the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should announce a date for next general elections, saying his party was ready whenever they are held.
Talking to media, former foreign minister said: “We are ready for elections if held within 60 days and still ready if held in 90 days”.
The National Assembly was dissolved last month days before the completion of its constitutional term to clear the way for holding elections within 90 days. The Constitution states that election should be held within 60 days if assemblies are dissolved on completion of five-year term and in case of premature dissolution, the stipulated period is enhanced to 90 days.
As per the Constitution, the general elections in Pakistan must be held till November 2023 as the National Assembly had been dissolved prematurely on August 9, 2023. However, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has hinted at delay in the polls as it has decided to go for fresh delimitation in line with the digital census.
Bilalwa Bhutto, whose party was also part of the PDM-led government, demanded that the elections should be held within 90 days.
He hoped that the ECP would ensure transparent and fair election in the country. While appreciating the past four-year performance of the electoral watchdog, he said it was on the record that the ECP had blocked rigging in Daska elections.
Bilawal said his party was not afraid of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), adding that the PPP had focused on performance instead of cases while in power.
He recalled that his father Asif Ali Zardari spent 11 years in jail without being convicted in any case. “Those who are facing jails these days, we encourage them as it is a training to make them a politician,” he apparently referred to the PTI chief’s detention.
At one point, he criticised the ECP for blocking the development funds for Sindh. He said the electoral watchdog had made an illegal announcement as it has stopped development work in flood affected areas.
