Our Correspondent
ISLAMABAD : A meeting of the top leadership of coalition parties in the government on Wednesday unanimously decided to hold simultaneous elections on the same day throughout the country after the completion of the constitutional term of the incumbent government.
The meeting comes as the top court’s April 27 deadline for the PML-N led federal government to release supplementary grant to the ECP for holding elections in Punjab draws nearer.
They said it was the main point that would serve as a base for any formulated strategy in this regard.
The meeting was held at the PM House with PM Shehbaz Sharif in the chair, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release issued in the Urdu language. It was attended by Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, former president Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other leaders, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.
During the meeting, the overall situation in the country was reviewed, particularly the matters which emerged after the decisions taken by a one-sided and controversial Supreme Court bench. The meeting also mulled over taking forward a consultative process, initiated earlier, to hold elections in the country on one day after the constitutional term of the incumbent government’s tenure.
They expressed the views that the ruling coalition partners had already started political consultation over holding fair, free, and transparent polls in the country on the same day and asserted that the “Punchayat” role of the Supreme Court over a purely political issue was unsuitable.
Deliberating upon the April 19’s decision of the Supreme Court, the meeting expressed its dismay that it had again issued a directive while neglecting the constitutional process regarding the issuance of funds by the federal government required for holding elections without approval by the National Assembly, and viewed that it was in contrast to the scheme of the constitution.
