This year is an election year. Elections are expected to be held one after the other from the line. The first is the provincial elections of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for which the 90-day meter has been down.
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| Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is demanding elections within 90 days. |
After the clear decision of the Lahore High Court, their schedule is yet to be announced. These elections are most important because since the provincial assembly has been dissolved, the new assembly will be held for its fixed period of five years. Keeping the same issue in front, the PDM government does not seem to have any intention to hasten the provincial elections.
On the other hand are the by-elections to the National Assembly, which are to be held after the PTI accepts the resignations initially offered. These by-elections could have been easily avoided as the duration of these constituencies would not exceed a few months.
But in the cycle of teaching a lesson to PTI and not giving a chance to become the opposition leader in the future, the government also created this difficulty for itself. Currently, one ruling party is in favor of boycotting these elections and the other party is supporting holding by-elections.
The final milestone is the National Assembly, which will be accompanied by the Provincial Assemblies of Sindh and Balochistan. If the assembly completes its term, then within 60 days after August, these elections will be held in October, and if the assembly is dissolved a little before the term, it can go further by 90 days.
The question is, what will happen in the future elections and how will these situations be dealt with? First of all, today's situation is unexpected and unique despite the country's turbulent political history. The last three assemblies completed their term and there was no problem in holding the elections. Whatever problems arose came to light during or after the elections.
Earlier, when the President had the power to dissolve the assemblies, the tenure of the assemblies was questionable, but the elections were held all together.
Behind the current situation is PTI's push for early elections and PDM's denial of early elections. PTI has dissolved the provincial assemblies playing its last resort. So the ball is in the court of the current government. If she had dissolved the remaining three assemblies, the country would have had an atmosphere of regular elections, a sure-fire situation and a new government would have come to power in three months with a new mandate. They neither want to hold provincial elections nor are they interested in taking any decision about the National Assembly. The result is the constitutional crisis that is now in front of everyone.
All the credible constitutional experts of the country agree that there is no room for postponing the elections in the current situation. Politically, this would be an unprecedented event in the country's unfortunate political history, barring martial law. Despite this, the federal and caretaker provincial governments have taken a clear position by creating resources and other justifications that they cannot hold elections on time.
The tragedy in all this is that the caretaker governments have come with only one mandate to hold elections and they are sidelining the process. Now it is the constitutional responsibility of the Election Commission to take a clear decision on this.
The question is also that if the Election Commission could not take effective and sure measures, will the High Courts take matters into their own hands and ensure the constitutional responsibility, as was seen earlier in the no-confidence motions and the election of the Chief Minister.
Politically, the issue of elections is no less than a crisis. There is no doubt that Saib's decision is to hold all the elections at the same time, but on the other hand, the condition of the constitution is also clear. The PDM does not want early elections of the National Assembly, which are constitutionally possible, nor is there any collective thought among the political forces on both sides to sit down and find a solution.
The PTI took the extreme step of breaking up the assembly and the PDM responded with arrests and raids, resulting in the end of any chance of a meeting.
The branch of political crisis is also emerging in the form of administrative crisis. Uncertain political situation is also being cited as a reason for the tightening of IMF conditions at the national level and the delay in the agreement. The administration at the provincial and lower levels is in complete disarray. Various basic items from food to medicine are also not available in the country. There is a separate problem with petrol. The prices of the goods that are available have gone up. While the main objective of the administration remains the crackdown against political opponents.
Postponement of Provincial Assemblies elections is a recent crisis, but the biggest concern is the postponement of National Assembly elections. Muffled voices are already being heard from the Houses of Government regarding this desire. If any such attempt is made, it will push the country into a new series of constitutional, political and administrative crises. The restlessness, anxiety and worry that is common at this time will turn into a frenzy and agitation with the most dangerous consequences.
It is hoped that the relevant institutions and political parties will act sensibly instead of enthusiastically and save the country from constitutional, political and administrative crisis by holding timely elections.
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