CJP assures elections will not be delayed even for a day

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar has assured that the general elections will be held on time and there will be no delay of even one day, a source close to the country’s top-most judge said.

Talking to The News here on Wednesday, the source quoted the CJP as saying that no delay in election will be allowed. The source said that the CJP read The News story, "CJP, COAS hinted at delay in elections", published on Wednesday, and expressed his surprise how he was wrongly quoted talking about possible delay in the general elections.

The News story had referred to the writing of an Urdu columnist, who in his recent column had claimed to have met the CJP and quoted Justice Saqib Nisar as having said that the issue of delimitation of constituencies had not been resolved as yet, and this could linger on and cause a delay in the election. The columnist also claimed that the CJP had feared: "It may revive the Doctrine of Necessity once again, which would not augur well for the country."

The source close the CJP told this correspondent that the CJP will never allow anyone to get the election delayed even for a day for any reason. As per the Constitution, the caretaker government cannot go beyond its 60 or 90-day term to do the assigned job -- holding of general elections -- and no institution regardless of its powers is armed with the authority to extend the stay of the interim set-up.

The caretaker government will remain in place only for 60 days in case parliament completes its term or 90 days if the assembly is dissolved for early elections, and is mandated by the Constitution to hold parliamentary elections “within” this period. The Article 224 says general elections 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 legislature is due to expire unless it has been sooner dissolved.

However, if the assembly is dissolved prematurely, the caretaker government will have 90 days to hold the polls. In the instant case, since the legislature is being wrapped up on its last day, 60 days will be available to the interim government to organise the elections.