The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has formally declared the date of the General Elections of 2024 following an agreement between Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja and President Dr. Arif Alvi.
ECP announces Elections date: Following a crucial consultation meeting between CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja and President Dr. Arif Alvi, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) confirmed that general elections would take place on February 8, 2024.
The President’s House and the ECP headquarters have both released formal announcements.
According to the announcement, the president met with a delegation led by the CEC today, and they unanimously decided to schedule general elections for February 8, 2024.
The Supreme Court (SC) would be informed by the commission of the election date tomorrow.
“How was consensus achieved?”
The parties had originally been unable to agree on an election date.
CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja explicitly suggested in a letter to President Alvi to hold the General Elections of 2024 on February 11 before the official announcement.
The Chief Election Commissioner presided over a consultative session that followed the President-CEC meeting. The legal team attended the meeting in addition to DG Law and ECP members.
Attorney General Mansoor Usman later attended the meeting as well, according to sources, who also mentioned that the attorney general arrived to the ECP headquarters with the president’s recommended election date.
CEC-President meeting
President Dr. Arif Alvi has received “three dates” from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the general elections in 2024.
The delegation led by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and President Dr. Arif Alvi met for an hour at the President’s House.
President Alvi received three dates from the commission for the general elections in 2024. Sources have recommended the president to consider dates for the general polls on January 28, January 4, and February 11.
After the meeting with the president, the ECP delegation arrived in the Central Secretariat. Members of the CEC and delegation, however, declined to address the media about their meeting with the president.
The Supreme Court’s orders
The Supreme Court was notified today by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that the country’s general elections will take place on February 11, 2024.
A three-judge panel, comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Athar Minallah, and Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, considered the pleas.
When presenting the schedule before the supreme court, the attorney for the ECP stated that they would complete all preparations, including delimitation, by January 29.
The attorney estimated that it would take three to five days to provide the final lists after outlining the delimitation procedure. He also said that January 29 is the date that results from counting 54 days starting on December 5.
The attorney stated that in order to facilitate voter participation, the ECP planned to hold polls on Sunday. According to this arrangement, he said, the first Sunday would have been on February 4 and the second on February 11.
The attorney stated, “We made the independent decision that elections should take place on Sunday, February 11th.”
Subsequently, the Supreme Court instructed the Election Commission to confer with the Pakistani President over the polling date.