Imran Khan reiterates 'dissolving assemblies before May 14' for same day elections

Lahore [Pakistan], May 1 : Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Monday expressed his party's readiness for same-day elections if the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) dissolves all assemblies before May 14, reported Geo News.

Addressing a rally in Lahore, Khan came down hard on the government ahead of "final" poll talks.

"They (the government) want to hold elections when they believe I will be out of their way. Their only aim is to take me out of the way," said Khan who was ousted as the prime minister in April last year.

Khan added that if the government thinks it can stall and the PTI will wait, they are wrong. "We will move the court and demand elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)," reported Geo News.

Khan has been mounting pressure on the government to announce general elections since his ouster from office in April, he announced last month that the PTI would dissolve the provincial assemblies in the two provinces where it is in power, KP and Punjab.

PTI and the ruling alliance are set to hold a "final round" of talks tomorrow (Tuesday) over the election date on the instructions of the apex court, but top leaders from both sides have cast aspersions over the fruitfulness of the negotiations, reported Geo News.

The apex court has asked both sides to sit down and evolve a consensus for holding elections across the country simultaneously after the government refused to follow the top court's orders on releasing funds for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The government as two sessions were held last week between the PTI and the PDM delegations said that the polls cannot be held right after the budget, presented in June, and proposed that they take place later. But the PTI was insistent on early elections, reported Geo News.

The PTI chief said the government is making "excuses" that it has to present the budget and that "they think that they can trap us in their ill-intentioned-plan".

Khan added that if the government thinks it can stall and the PTI will wait, they are wrong. "We will move the court and demand elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)."

The PTI chief said his party would put forth only one proposal in the meeting tomorrow: dissolve all assemblies Sindh, Balochistan, and national and head for polls before May 14 - the date Pakistan Supreme Court has set for Punjab's polls, reported Geo News.

PTI Chairman said that elections were to be held in 90 days if the assembly was finished, the caretaker government did not do a single thing for the election. He said that 70 per cent of the people in the country do not have elected representatives.