After the 9th May chaos, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf is facing the worst kind of splintering and on the other hand one thing is clear that despite judicial pressure, the government is determined to hold national and provincial elections on the same day, but it is still unclear when they will take place.
During a meeting with party workers, the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and former President Asif Ali Zardari stated, “Elections will be held when we want. We cannot hold elections in two months. Elections will only take place when I decide”. He hinted that it is very much possible that elections might be held in the month of coming October. He also predicted that it is the time for the party to reap the fruit of patience.
On one side PTI’s former leaders Jahangir Khan Tareen and Aleem Khan are also busy nowadays in forming new political parties and many defiant leaders of PTI had some meetings with them. Though the party is not announced yet, there is something that is being cooked, for which the smell is coming out from their kitchen.
On the other hand, preparations for electoral alliances are underway. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), is facing internal divisions, as veteran leader Javed Hashmi and Hashim Dogar are also making efforts to craft another political group.
Asif Ali Zardari recently discussed the extension of the National Assembly’s tenure or its early dissolution, with head of government alliance Maulana Fazal-ur-Rahman. The talks between two have added to the ambiguity surrounding the election date.
It is possible that if political and economic conditions would not improve by October, the elections could be delayed. Due to the upcoming election this year, the Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif wants to provide relief to the public, but the national exchequer has not enough reserves to fulfil the desire of the PM.
Recently, former leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar also said in a talk show on a private TV channel also said that PML-N and Maulana Fazal-ur-Rahman are making extensive efforts to extend the National Assembly’s term by one year and talks have also been initiated with those parties that are not part of the PDM.”
The legal experts said that according to Article 232 of the Constitution of Pakistan, when a state of emergency is in force, the National Assembly’s term can be extended for up to one year. “But it should be remembered that the elections for provincial assemblies cannot be postponed because there is no provision for extending the term of the provincial assembly in the Constitution,” they added.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s spokesperson, Muhammad Zubair, in an interview to media said that the premature dissolution of the National Assembly is possible as the government has no intention of extending the National Assembly’s tenure. Elections will be held in October once the constitutional term of the National Assembly is completed.
However Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) spokesperson Faisal Karim Kundi, told the media that the party does not want an extension in the National Assembly’s term.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is eager for early elections and complains that the country is not being governed in a legal manner, so as per the party’s stance any delay in the elections will not harm the country.