ECP announces K-P LG polls on Dec 19

In first phase, village and neighbourhood and tehsil council elections will be held in 17 districts

PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday announced holding the first phase of local government elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on December 19.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja chaired a meeting of the commission on the issue.

It was attended by ECP members and senior officers.

K-P Minister Atif Khan, the chief secretary and local government secretary told the participants that the provincial government wanted to hold the first round of elections for village and neighbourhood councils in December.

They further said consultations for tehsil council polls should be held later.

Apart from the publication of official population figures, LG elections have not yet been held because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the deteriorating law and order situation in the province, they added.

The ECP agreed that the first phase of elections should be held in December, but the tehsil council elections would be held on the same day so that all the local governments in the districts where the polls were being held could be functional.

The commission added that it did not want to hold elections in the same area twice.

The commission notified that the first phase of local government elections in K-P would be held on December 19.

According to the commission, in the first phase, village and neighborhood and tehsil council elections would be held in 17 districts of the province.

Earlier, the K-P government finally submitted a proposed schedule for the LG polls to the ECP.
It proposed that the LG polls should be held on December 15 in the first phase for village and neighbourhood councils. The second phase of polls should be held next year in March for tehsil councils.

Addressing a news conference, Special Assistant to CM on Information Kamran Bangash said the provincial government had given the arrangements for the polls “a final touch”.

“We have finalised all arrangements for the polls and submitted a written application to the ECP too,” he added.

Bangash said a three-page dossier had been sent to the K-P Election Commission.Balochistan LG pollsNext week, the ECP will hold a meeting with a legal team of the Balochistan government on the LG elections in the province.

Legal issues related to delimitation will be decided at the meeting. The commission has directed the provincial government to prepare its officers for the meeting.

Balochistan Chief Secretary Motahar Niaz Rana on Thursday appeared before the commission for the hearing of the case of holding LG elections in the province.

The ECP Balochistan member remarked that neither a lawyer nor a representative from the provincial government appeared at the last hearing.

The ECP special secretary said that under the law, delimitation is the prerogative of the commission, not the provincial government.

The province’s chief secretary said the draft of the LG law had been prepared and would be sent to the assembly soon.

He also requested the commission to meet with law officers and Balochistan attorney general on the amendments to the LG bill.

The ECP agreed to the meeting, which would be held on October 28. The commission adjourned the next hearing of the case till November 9.