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Punjab assembly stands dissolved, KP assembly liKely to be dissolved today g
g CM ELAHI To DECIDE NAME of CARETAKER CM IN PUNjAB GovERNoR ExCUSES fRoM SIGNING SUMMARy, SAyING HE CoULDN’T BE PART of MovE CoNSULTATIoN wITH oPPoSITIoN LEADER HAMzA SHEHBAz
LAHORE
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HE Punjab Assembly stood dissolved Saturday night while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly would follow suit as per the commitment made by the KP Chief Minister. The Punjab Assembly stood dissolved as Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman excused himself from signing the summary, saying he could not become a part of the move. “I would rather let the Constitution and law take its own course. Doing so will not hamper any legal process as Constitution clearly provides a way forward,” he tweeted. Ahead of Punjab Assembly dissolution, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman and other federal ministers Saturday met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the premier’s residence in Lahore’s Model Town. The meeting deliberated upon whether to dissolve Punjab Assembly. Sources in the ruling party said that after the dissolution of provincial assembly, CM Elahi will unanimously decide the name of caretaker chief minister in consultation with opposition leader Hamza Shehbaz within three days. They said that the caretaker CM will be sworn in if both leaders agree on a name. However, if they don’t then the matter will be referred to Speaker Punjab Assembly who will announce a parliamen-
tary committee to resolve the issue. Insiders revealed that if the committee also failed to reach an agreement then the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would take up the issue to choose a candidate from the six nominated candidates. Meanwhile, PM Shehbaz also met with senior federal ministers and PML-N leaders including Ishaq Dar, Rana Sanaullah, Atta Tarar and others. In the meetings, consultations were held regarding the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly and possible elections in the province. The development comes two days after CM Elahi, hours after regaining the confidence of a majority of lawmakers in PA, formally advised the governor to dissolve the provincial legislature. The move capped weeks of speculation, legal wrangling and a public spectacle of the differences between the ruling allies in Punjab — the PTI and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) — over whether the assembly would be disbanded or not. According to Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid leader Moonis Ellahi, the dissolution advice was received by the Governor House at 10:10pm on Thursday. According to Article 112 of the Constitution, the assembly stands automatically “dissolved at the expiration of forty-eight hours after the chief minister has so advised” if the governor does not do it. on Thursday, Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi
Urban Sindh goes to LG polls today amid fear, uncertainty
ISLAMABAD/KARACHI Saleem Jadoon
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday rejected the latest request from the Sindh government to defer local body elections in the province, declaring the vote will definitely take place Sunday (today). The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the ECP which was held in Islamabad on Saturday afternoon with Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja in the chair virtually from Lahore. An official statement signed by the ECP spokesperson stated the ECP directed the Sindh government to ensure “foolproof preparations for peaceful elections”. Earlier, the ECP called the meeting after intelligence agencies sensitized the election commission to the terror threats during
the polls in the province. In the wake of fresh information, the ECP had summoned a meeting on Saturday under the chair of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja in Islamabad. The Sindh government had also written a letter to the election commission, requesting for postponement of the local government elections, keeping in view the security threats. It requested the commission to delay the polls till it arranges security at the polling stations. The provincial government said that the deployment of Army troops and civil armed forces at polling stations was urgently needed. An important meeting was held under the chair of Sindh Chief Secretary Sohail Rajpoot where a briefing was given on the security arrangements during LG polls in the province.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Election Commission Umar Hameed, the Sindh IG Police and other government officials. During the meeting, the police authorities told the participants that they are ready to deploy policemen at polling stations but there is security risk involved. They have threats from proscribed organizations including BLA and TTP. They said that 63,000 police officials are required to provide security at Karachi and Hyderabad divisions. “If these police officials were deployed there, then cities may face law and order situation,” they maintained. Sindh IG Police Ghulam Nabi Memon said that not even a single polling station could be declared normal in the province and “that’s why we are facing a shortage of police officials for their deployment at polling stations.” He informed that only in Karachi, 1,340 polling stations have been declared ‘most sensitive’ while 3,655 have been confirmed as ‘sensitive’. In Hyderabad, 1,005 polling stations have been declared ‘most sensitive’ and 2,874 confirmed as ‘sensitive. If combine together, the number of most sensitive polling stations in Karachi and Hyderabad is 2,345 and number of ‘sensitive’ polling stations is 6,532.
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had formally advised the governor to dissolve the provincial legislature hours after retaining the confidence of a majority of lawmakers in the PA, in a
session that began on wednesday and ended in the early hours of Thursday.
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