ISLAMABAD: On Thursday (2nd November 2023), the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and President Dr Arif Alvi finalised the date for general elections 2024. The ECP announced that general elections in Pakistan would take place on February 8 2024. This development occurred after Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa directed the electoral body to confer with President Alvi on the date of the poll.
Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja met with the president at the Aiwan-e-Sadr with his team. The ECP representatives reached Islamabad after Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan called Chief ECP.
Before meeting with President Alvi, ECP told the Supreme Court that the elections would be held on February 11 2024. But Qazi Faez Isa told ECP to take Arif Alvi on board to finalise the decision. The whole discussion took place during the hearing of petition regarding organising the elections within 90 days after the dissolution of the legislatures. CJP led the bench for hearing that comprised of Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Athar Minallah.
CJP ordered the ECP to meet with the President of Pakistan to decide the date for holding the general elections 2024. He added that the Attorney-General for Pakistan will arrange the meeting. The court provided a deadline of Friday (November 3 2023) to submit the date for elections.
#ECP pic.twitter.com/O2udfMSAjn
— Election Commission of Pakistan (OFFICIAL) (@ECP_Pakistan) November 2, 2023
Supreme Court issued a notice to ECP and Federation on October 23 2023 that asked to fix the date of election within ten days and adjourned the hearing till November 2 2023. Earlier, in August, President Alvi invited the Chief ECP for a meeting to finalise the date of the elections. But there was no progressive outcome and elections kept getting delayed until SC’s intervention.
