By IANS
Lahore : For the people of Pakistan, Dec 27 or 28 may well be the D-Day (D for democracy). General elections are being planned for these dates.
The government is considering these dates, and whether to hold the elections to the national assembly and the four provincial legislatures simultaneously, Daily Times said Monday, quoting unnamed sources.
The report said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would announce the election schedule within 10 days of the Supreme Court (SC) verdict on pending petitions regarding the presidential elections, likely to be decided by Oct 17.
They said that the assemblies would probably be dissolved in the last week of October on the advice of the prime minister and provincial chief ministers.
The general elections would then be held under the supervision of an interim set-up within 60 days.
Private news television channel Geo News reported Sunday that a caretaker prime minister and caretaker chief ministers would take oath Nov 16.
It said the government planned to form such a government with the consensus of all political parties.
It stated that candidates for appointment to the posts of caretaker prime minister and chief ministers are currently being considered.
Following a deal between President Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the government are currently discussing the formation of the caretaker government.
According to the TV channel, the government has accepted the PPP’s demand that nazims (senior-most civil officials at district level) would not be allowed to influence the election process. It said that the Election Commission would put certain restrictions on nazims to bar them from interfering in the general elections.
The PPP had expressed its reservations on the local government system and said that nazims could use state machinery to rig the polls.