ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) here on Monday regretted the government’s request to hold the presidential election earlier than the schedule it had announced a few days back.
An ECP source told The News that Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim and the four Election Commission members had an exchange of notes on the matter, and it was decided that there would be no change in the holding of polls, slated for August 06.
He said that the ECP Secretary Ishtiak Ahmad Khan had signed the letter and it was sent to the Ministry of Law and Justice.“The scope of the letter from the Ministry of Law was shared with the ECMs, including Riaz Kayani, who represents the Punjab in the electoral body. Justice Kayani, currently in Geneva, contended there is no harm in having a full ECP meeting on the subject,” claimed the source.
Justice Kayani could not be approached for his side of the view on the subject while the other three ECMs and the chief election commissioner strongly rejected the government’s plea for a review of the election schedule.
It is pertinent to mention here the media had reported the chief election commissioner as saying that the election schedule could only be reviewed on the direction of the Supreme Court.
The Election Commission maintained that the reasons, such as several lawmakers, would leave for Umrah and observe Eetikaf was not convincing to have the scheduled presidential election reviewed.
As per the schedule, the nomination papers for the presidential election will be submitted on July 24 while the scrutiny process will take place on July 26.The candidates will have the option of withdrawal of nomination papers on July 29 and the final list of candidates will also be issued the same day.
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