ISLAMABAD, Apr 3 (APP):Senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Rana Ihsaan Afzal Khan on Monday said a new caretaker government in the centre would organize general elections in October across Pakistan.
“The coalition government is engaged in conducting census exercise and gathering data,” he said while talking in a state news channel program. He also said that as of now elections could not be held in the current situation owing to security and economic issues.
Holding elections before the completion of the census exercise or with the old census data could create many issues, he warned. He made it clear that a caretaker government in the center formed after the completion of the constitutional tenure of the National Assembly would organize the general elections in October 2023 in a free and transparent manner.
To a question about financial needs in preparation for elections, he said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had damaged the economy, besides creating problems for the people due to its wrong policies. He said the coalition government was trying to restore the economy so that it could provide necessary financial resources to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding the general elections in a transparent manner.
He said security institutions were presently engaged to provide security to the census staff carrying out the national duty. The PML(N) leader said the government had increased allocations for the Benazir Income Support Programe (BISP) to help poor people. In contrast, the PTI made lives difficult for the masses in its tenure, he regretted.
Meanwhile, the senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party Shehla Raza said that people elected their representatives for a five-year period, and after completing that tenure, the government would go for the next elections.
Commenting on judicial system, she said lawyers’ community had objected to the way things were being done. In addition, the other guest, senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Shaukat Yousafzai said that his party had been demanding early elections.