Pakistan’s current Assembly (same as Lok Sabha in India) was scheduled to end its term on August 12th this year.
However, the Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has written to the Pakistani president, Mr. Arif Alvi, that the Assembly should be dissolved on August 9th.
Under Pakistan’s constitution, if an Assembly ends its tenure, then elections must be held within 60 days. But if an Assembly is dissolved before its term ends, then elections can be held within 90 days instead of 60. That is believed to be the motivation behind the dissolution three days ahead of schedule.
The Census and Constituency Issue
Pakistan’s digital census has put the Pakistani population at about 241 million, up from 207 million in the 2017 census.
Now, constituencies have to be redrawn based on this new population data, so that the number of people being represented by one person remains more or less similar.
But the new census and constituency creation cannot happen so quickly.
Caretaker government not announced yet
Pakistan will be governed by a caretaker government till the elections are done. This caretaker government was to be announced by the Prime Minister, but so far, there is no clarity on who will be the caretaker prime minister and their cabinet.
Imran Khan barred from politics for five years
On Tuesday, the previous prime minister, Mr. Imran Khan, was banned from politics for five years. This was because he was held guilty in corruption cases related to previous elections.
This means that he will not be able to contest the upcoming elections.
Featured image: Pakistan flag superimposed on its map.