Playing by the rules: K-P’s devolution of power begins today

Minister for Information Mushtaq Ghani says women cannot be stopped from voting

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Election Commission has directed political parties and independent candidates to strictly abide by the code of conduct for local government polls on election day. On Friday it asked aspirants to abstain from further campaigning for which the deadline expired on May 28.

“The election commission will take action against political parties and candidates if they campaign or violate the code of conduct on polling day,” Election Commission of Pakistan K-P Public Relations Officer Sohail Ahmad told The Express Tribune. He said election material such as ballot boxes, ballots and other particulars had been sent to 11,211 polling stations on Friday morning.

Local government elections in K-P are being contested by 84,420 candidates for 41,762 seats. Each voter will have the opportunity to cast seven different ballots; , the EC has directed officials to ensure proper discipline in the stations to avoid any confusion. The aim is to conduct polls in a peaceful manner to allow everyone to exercise their right to vote. According to the ECP’s data, there are also 3,339 seats for minorities in K-P, but only 349 candidates are contesting. Moreover, there are a total of 503 neighbourhood and 2,836 village councils for which the election would be held on a non-party basis, while polls on the district and tehsil level would be party-based.

Use of vehicles

The election commission also clarified rules about the use of private vehicles by candidates to pick and drop voters.

“There is nothing in the law that states voters can be given pick and drop facilities by candidates or political parties,” said Sohail Ahmad. “Candidates and voters should keep this in mind as it can influence the elections.” The commission PRO said all elected representatives and government officials will not be allowed to visit polling stations or conduct development work during the election process. Any such actions would be considered a violation of the code of conduct.

‘Women’s votes must count’

In parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, women have either been stopped from voting or are reluctant to exercise this constitutional right. In areas such as Swat, jirgas were reportedly held to prevent them from casting their ballots.

As a counter measure, the election commission has issued strict orders to candidates to encourage, support and facilitate women voters. According to official data, there are 5,638,619 women voters in the province for whom 3,428 polling stations had been established.

“Women cannot be stopped from casting their vote,” said K-P Minister for Information Mushtaq Ghani. He added strict action would be taken against those denying their constitutional and democratic right.

A roaring success

Ghani said holding local government elections and transferring power to the grass-roots level was the biggest success of the current regime. “The government is fully prepared for LG elections; this is a precious gift to the people of the province as they can now take decisions for themselves.”

On call, on time

Peshawar Deputy Commissioner and District Returning Officer Riaz Mehsud said on Friday that strict action would be taken against officials who are absent from polling duty.

According to a notification, police would take action against absent officials under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.

Power outages to continue

The Peshawar Electric Supply Company has refrained from announcing a power outage exemption during the local government polls.

When approached, company spokesperson Shaukat Afzal confirmed no such plans are under consideration. “We have already exempted 126 feeders from load-shedding. We have also reduced outage duration by two hours on 219 feeders across K-P,” he said.

He added the company is already facing losses of billions of rupees on a daily basis. While load-shedding will be carried out on regular hours , rain and thunderstorms are predicted for the day.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2015.