Barrister Roman Awan

Constitutional experts believe that the advice by the Chief Minister of Punjab, Ch Pervaiz Elahi, to the Governor of Punjab for the dissolution of the Punjab assembly reflects the constitutional spirit. The Governor is constitutionally bound to dissolve the assembly; if he does not, it shall stand dissolved after 48 hours. The whole process is regulated under Article 112 of the Constitution.  

Article: 112 Dissolution of Provincial Assembly

Dissolution of Provincial Assembly.-(l) The Governor shall dissolve the Provincial Assembly if so advised by the Chief Minister; and the Provincial Assembly shall, unless sooner dissolved, stand dissolved at the expiration of forty-eight hours after the Chief Minister has so advised.

Explanation.- Reference in this Article to ‘Chief Minister’ shall not be construed to include reference to a Chief Minister against whom a notice of a resolution for a vote of no-confidence has been given in the Provincial Assembly but has not been voted upon or against whom a resolution for a vote of no-confidence has been passed.

(2) The Governor may also dissolve the Provincial Assembly in his discretion, but subject to the previous approval of the President, where a vote of no-confidence having been passed against the Chief Minister, no other member of the Provincial Assembly commands the confidence of the majority of the members of the Provincial Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, as ascertained in a session of the Provincial Assembly summoned for the purpose.

According to the Constitution, experts believe the Governor is required to sign the summary, and the assembly would dissolve. If the Governor does not sign the summary, the assembly will automatically be dissolved within 48 hours after receipt. In the present scenario, that would be 10:10 pm on Saturday.

The constitutional experts state that the summary paved the way for fresh elections for the provincial assembly in 90 days – before the end of April. But for now, the consultation process for forming a caretaker government would start immediately after the dissolution between Elahi and the leader of the Opposition Hamza Shehbaz.

According to constitutional experts, under Article 112 (1) of the Constitution, the Governor of a province is bound and has no legal choice except to dissolve the provincial assembly if advised by the chief minister.

The caretaker chief minister shall be appointed by the Governor in consultation with the Chief Minister and the leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Provincial Assembly, adding that Governor in consultation with the chief minister and the leader of the Opposition in the outgoing provincial assembly shall name a caretaker chief minister.

Suppose a chief minister and the respective opposition leader do not agree on any person to be appointed as a caretaker chief minister, as the case may be. In that case, the provisions of Article 224-A of the Constitution shall be followed.

In case a chief minister and the leader of the Opposition in the outgoing provisional assembly do not agree on any person to be appointed as the caretaker chief minister, within three days of the dissolution of that assembly, they shall forward two nominees each to a committee to be immediately constituted by the speaker of the provincial assembly.

The committee would comprise six members of the outgoing provincial assembly and have equal representation from the treasury and the Opposition. The chief minister and the opposition leader, respectively, will nominate it.

The committee constituted under clause (1) or (2) shall finalise the name of the caretaker prime minister or caretaker CM, as the case may be, within three days of the referral of the matter to it.

Suppose the committee cannot decide on the matter in the mentioned period. In that case, the names of the nominees shall be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan for a final decision within two days.

However, the incumbent chief minister shall continue to hold office till the appointment of the caretaker CM as per the Constitution.

Furthermore, the functions of the caretaker governments were set out in Section 230 of the Election Act 2017, adding that a caretaker government shall perform its functions to attend to day-to-day matters necessary to run the affairs of the government and assist the Commission in holding elections following the law.

There are two takeaways from the constitutional, legal and procedural debate. The first is that Pervez Elahi shall continue to be the Chief Minister of Punjab. The other is a procedural law, how lengthy the federal government can extend it. However, the total duration till the election is 90 days. Then, the federal and provincial polls must go side by side. So, it is a complex and intricate situation and shall involve several judicial and administrative explanations.

What are the options of the Federal Government? The federal government may impose a Governor rule. They have their Governor, Chief Secretary and IG. Thus, they can annoyingly run the affairs of a provincial government. However, the Governor’s rule is undemocratic, and Courts shall not concede it. The next option is the federal government can still run the affairs of Punjab through Chief Secretary and IG. They can easily sustain time. However, coming to Imran Khan and PTI, they will also dissolve the KPK assembly and resign from all the national and other provincial assembly seats. Hence, making it almost impossible for the federal government to run the affairs. Then, the President may also ask the Prime Minister to take a vote of confidence in Islam Abad. So, in either case, the political stability shall further deteriorate and, thus, the economy of Pakistan.

Last, it might be a great political game for the parties involved, but it is not good for democracy. It is more disappointing because the whole process is a matter of a few months.