PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan may initiate the process to dissolve the provincial assembly as and when the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly is duly notified, a senior cabinet figure told Dawn on Thursday, an assertion later confirmed by PTI leader Asad Umar.

The KP government spokesman, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, stated that legally, it takes at least 48 hours for any assembly to be dissolved after a summary is signed and sent to the governor. However, the process of dissolving the KP Assembly will begin after the Punjab Assembly is dissolved. He also said that there is no hurdle stopping the government from dissolving the KP Assembly. Meanwhile, the next step is the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly and the KP assembly should be dissolved in the next 48 hours. There has been no final settlement between PTI and PML-Q on seat adjustment, and PML-Q said they would discuss seat adjustment after the dissolution has taken place to avoid the impression that the party was blackmailing the PTI. The PTI would file a reference against the chief election commissioner (CEC) and they believe that he should no longer be in that position, but they will contest the elections regardless of his position.