The ministry of law and justice has told President Arif Alvi that the right of announcing the date of elections rests with the Election Commission of Pakistan, sources said on Wednesday.

The ministry expressed the opinion in reply to request by the president to for advice after the ECP rebuffed him.

Althought full contents of the reply have not been revealed to the media, sources said the ministry had said amendments to the Election Act had made the ECP the relevant authority for deciding all matters related to the election.

Alvi had invited the chief election commissioner for a meeting to decide the election date. Howver, the commissioner had replied that the date was entirley the ECP’s domain under the new election laws.