ISLAMABAD : PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, on Monday, condemned the two-month postponement of bye-elections to the vacant National and Provincial Assemblies seats.

Election Commission (EC) re-scheduled the bye-elections which were to be held on June 18. The EC said that the Frontier government had requested the postponement citing reasons of law and order and the preparation of provincial budget.

In a statement issued here, Asif Zardari demanded to know the real reasons behind the decision saying, “The reasons cited by the EC did not appear credible.”

Earlier, bye-elections scheduled to be held on June 3 were also postponed to June 18 saying that political parties were not ready and wanted more time for filing nomination papers. At that time, too, the political parties had rejected the postponement.

The PPP co-chairman said that holding of bye-elections within 60 days of a seat falling vacant was a constitutional requirement under Article 224 (4) of the Constitution. As such the postponement for the second time was intriguing, as it was in conflict with the constitutional requirement, he said.

He said the PPP was ready to field its candidates in the bye-elections on June 3 and also on June 18. The party had already invited applications from candidates for election tickets and made all necessary preparations in this regard.

Even if the law and order situation was bad in any particular locality, it provided no justification to postpone bye-elections throughout the country, Zardari added. APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2008

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