K-P govt, ECP agree to hold 2nd phase of LG polls in March

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday agreed to hold the second phase of the local body elections in the province in March.

The decision was made during the hearing of a petition filed by MNA Murtaza Javed Abbasi. 

A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja heard the case. The provincial chief secretary appeared before the commission.

“The second phase of local body elections in K-P will be held on March 27,” said the CEC.

However, the chief secretary remarked that the K-P government had requested to hold the first phase of LG elections in December 2021 and the second phase in May 2022.

The commissioner maintained that the provincial government had agreed that the second phase of the LG polls would be held before Ramazan.

“Since the month of Ramazan would begin from April 3 or 4, it will be too late if elections are held in May,” Raja said.

To this, the secretary requested the commission to hold LG body elections by the end of March 2022.

“The last Sunday of that month would fall on March 27,” the CEC responded.

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Earlier, it was reported that K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had ordered foolproof security for the second phase of local bodies elections in the province and said that the incidents of violence that happened during the first phase of elections should not happen again.

During a meeting with Chief Secretary Shahzad Bangash and Inspector General of Police Muazzam Jah Ansari, he was thoroughly briefed about the matters related to the peaceful holding of upcoming local bodies polls in the remaining 18 districts of the province.

He was also briefed about the incidents of violence that took place in certain places during the first phase of the elections and a broader strategy to avoid such incidents in the upcoming second phase was also discussed.