ISLAMABAD  -  President Dr Arif Alvi has made a constitutional intervention on Wednesday and invited Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja to meet him today to fix an appropriate date for holding general elections in the country. 

In a letter written to the Chief Election Commissioner yester­day, Dr Arif Alvi said since the National Assembly was dis­solved on August 2023, there­fore, under Article 48 (5) of the Constitution, president of Paki­stan is obliged to appoint a date not later than 90 days from the date of dissolution of assemblies for the holding of general elec­tions in the country. 

“Forgoing in view, the Chief Election Commissioner is invit­ed for a meeting with the Pres­ident today or tomorrow to fix an appropriate date”, the letter noted.

On the other hand, the Chief Election Commissioner mean­while called an important meet­ing at the Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday to de­cide whether or not to attend the meeting called by the president. 

Sources said the Chief Election Commissioner would announce the decision on the subject after the meeting of the Commission. 

It may be recalled that the Election Commission of Pakistan has earlier announced that the general elections could not be held within 90 days due to the lengthy delimitation process af­ter the notification of the fresh digital population and housing census in the country.