Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to send the summary for dissolution of the National Assembly to President Dr Arif Alvi today after which the NA will stand dissolved at midnight.
“After completion of our term, we will, Wednesday, write to the president of Pakistan that the assembly should be dissolved and then a caretaker government will come,” he had said on Tuesday, while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the tube-well solar energy transfer project.
The PM is expected to hold a meeting with Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz today as well as chair the final meeting of the federal cabinet.
On Tuesday, Riaz said that he had not yet spoken with the premier about the names of the caretaker prime minister.
“I hope to have a meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) in which these things will be discussed,” he said, adding that the consultation would happen at “the right time”.
However, Riaz said he had completed the consultation process with his allies, adding that the three names for the interim prime minister were “almost 90 percent finalised”.
Regarding potential delays in elections, Riaz said elections should ideally be held within three months but the approval of the latest census has complicated the matters.
He was of the view that the election might be delayed by six months.
According to Article 224 of the Constitution, “A general election to the National Assembly or a provincial assembly shall be held within a period of 60 days immediately following the day on which the term of the assembly is due to expire unless the Assembly has been sooner dissolved”.
In case of early dissolution, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is bound to hold the general elections within a period of 90 days after the dissolution, according to Article 224(2).
