LG by-polls in K-P to be held on Feb 21

Election commission announces new schedule

PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued a fresh date for the LG by-elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Tuesday. According to the ECP notification the polling day for the by-elections in 23 districts of K-P will be February 21.

According to the ECP schedule announced earlier, K-P by-elections were to be held on January 23, but were postponed due to the tragic attack on Bacha Khan University and the subsequent threat alerts to educational institutions in K-P.



ECP K-P spokesperson Sohail Ahmed said that the provincial government has given a positive nod to the ECP regarding the security situation for the by-elections. Sharing details of the elections on the condition of anonymity, an official of the ECP Peshawar said that more than 3,600 seats will still remain vacant after the February 21 by-elections.

“These vacant seats are mostly minority and women’s seats and the reason is that there is no interest in contesting for them or even submitting their nomination papers,” said the official, adding that  “6 seats in the General category, 1 each in the Youth, Workers and Peasants categories, 3,100 minority seats and 542 seats for women councillors will remain vacant.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th,  2016.