President Alvi unilaterally proposes November 6 as date for general elections in Pakistan

Islamabad: Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Wednesday unilaterally proposed November 6 as the date for the general elections in a letter written to the chief election commissioner.

In his letter to CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja, President Alvi cited Article 48(5) of the Constitution, which he said "empowers and mandates the president ‘to appoint a date not later than 90 days from the date of the dissolution, for the holding of a general election to the Assembly’".

Hence, "in terms of Article 48(5), the general election to the National Assembly should be held by the 89th day of the date of dissolution of the National Assembly, i.e. Monday, 6th day of November 2023”, wrote Alvi, who was a founding member of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

The development comes two days after President Alvi met with the caretaker Law Minister Ahmed Irfan Aslam on Monday to discuss the elections.

General elections are scheduled to be held in Pakistan within 90 days after the dissolution of the National Assembly, which was prematurely dissolved on August 9.

Alvi has insisted that elections should be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, which was announced on August 9.

The ECP already announced to complete delimitation by November 30 and then follow up with elections. Though no timeframe has been announced yet, elections might be possible in January.