ECP seeks early hearing against ruling delaying K-P LG polls' second phase

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking an early hearing of the petition against the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) ruling postponing the second phase of the local government election in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) that were scheduled to be held on March 27.

On February 4, the PHC Abbottabad Bench had postponed the next phase of the LG elections, a decision that was welcomed by the Hazara Province Movement, which vowed to field candidates from every district and village council of the Hazara Division, including Battagram, Allai and Torghar.

The high court had directed the electoral body to hold the elections after Ramazan, keeping in view the harsh weather forecast next month.

Read: Politicking gathers pace ahead of LG polls

The court had also suspended the ECP notification dated January 20, 2022, regarding holding the second phase of the local body polls in 18 districts of K-P on March 27, 2022.

However, in the appeal filed today, the ECP maintained that the hearing of the petition against the PHC's decision should be fixed soon.