Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is set to hand over power to a caretaker setup tomorrow, said that he will send a summary of the dissolution of the National Assembly to President Arif Alvi on Wednesday. “After completing our [coalition govt’s] tenure, I will write to the president of Pakistan to dissolve the assembly,” he said in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Highlighting economic challenges in the country, the premier said that the next government should “work day and night to break the begging bowl and make Pakistan great”, Geo News reported. He also lamented that the government’s hands were tied by the International Monetary Fund as it could not provide subsidies.

The tenure of the current National Assembly will end on August 12. A caretaker government, by Pakistani law, is tasked to oversee day-to-day matters important to the government but is not allowed to make major policy decisions except for urgent matters.

If the National Assembly is dissolved before the stipulated period, the general elections can be held within 90 days, as compared to 60 days if the tenure is completed. A caretaker Prime Minister is expected to be an impartial person towards any person or political party. 

However, in some cases, it has been found that caretaker governments have overstepped their boundaries, such as in 2013, where all appointments, transfers and holdings by the interim authority were revoked by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the general elections scheduled for November are likely to be delayed till next year as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is now required to carry out fresh delimitation of constituencies after the Council of Common Interests (CCI) approved the census 2023 last week.

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz on Tuesday said that he would call on the PM Shehbaz tomorrow to hold a consultation on the name of the caretaker prime minister. In case they both fail to agree, the matter will be taken over by a parliamentary committee.

This coincides with former PM Imran Khan’s conviction and imprisonment in connection with the Toshakhana corruption case, as members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have alleged that the government is taking measures to prevent the cricketer-turned-politician from making a comeback to power. Khan was ousted in a no-confidence motion last year.

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