ROs start getting nomination papers

The Returning Officers (ROs) of three Cantonment Boards of district Abbottabad started receiving nomination papers for Local Government (LG) elections 2021 to be held on 12 September simultaneously in 11 cantonment boards of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa.

According to the Provincial Election Commission, the returning officers of Cantonment Boards of Abbottabad, Havelian and Kalabagh have received nomination papers for general seats from Monday which would continue till July 29.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has nominated the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the Cantonment Boards as returning officers and also completed their two-day training of conducting LG elections. The names of the candidates who have filed their nomination papers from July 31 to 03 August will be published following scrutiny of their nomination papers.

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The appeals against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers would be entertained between August 4 and August 7 while the returning officers would announce the disposal of appeals on August 10 followed by publishing the names of candidates on August 11.

The candidates would be allowed to withdraw their nomination papers until August 12. The final list of candidates with election symbols would be displayed on August 13. The elections would be held on September 12 while ROs would announce results on September 17.

Both the mainstream political parties PTI and PML-N have to finalise their candidates’ lineup for three cantonment boards elections. One on one contest between PTI and PML-N candidates is expected in ten wards of Abbottabad, 2 wards of Haripur and one ward of Kalabagh, whereas only few independent and Jamat-e-Islami candidates would contest the election.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2021.