ECP rejects PTI’s request to change by-polls date

Says pushing date beyond March 16 would be violation of constitution

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday rejected the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s plea to reschedule the by-polls in 33 National Assembly constituencies and hold them on March 19 (Sunday) instead of March 16 since the latter is a working day.

In a letter to the ECP Secretary, PTI Secretary General Asad Umar had said the turnout would be low if polls were held on a working day.

Rejecting the request, the commission has said a local holiday will be declared on March 16 in the respective constituencies.

In order to better facilitate the people on the day of the election, it will write to the provincial governments to declare a local holiday in the concerned constituencies, sources said.

The election body stated that it was bound to hold elections within 60 days and that pushing the date beyond March 16 would be a violation of the constitution.

It may be noted here that Asad Umar in his letter had highlighted that given that Thursday was a working day, most people would be busy with their private and official affairs, and this would risk “disenfranchising a large number of voters”.

He said that even if a public holiday is announced, there is a possibility of negative impact on the turnout. A slight change in the date will encourage voters’ participation in the electoral process, he added.

He, therefore, demanded that the Election Commission should revise its schedule and conduct elections in these 33 constituencies on Sunday, March 19 instead.

The party's lawmakers had resigned en masse from the lower house of parliament following the ouster of PTI Chairman Imran Khan in April last year.

Postings, transfers banned

In a related development, the ECP also banned postings, transfers of all government officials, and announcement of development schemes in 33 NA constituencies.

The ECP notification directed the government and authorities not to post or transfer any officer in the districts till the publication of names of returned candidates.

The election watchdog also banned announcing development schemes by government functionaries or elected representatives including a local government functionary for the constituencies.

The aforementioned 33 constituencies where ban is imposed include: NA-04 Swat, NA-17 Haripur, NA-18 Swabi, NA-25 and NA-26 Nowshera, NA-32 Kohat, NA-38 Dera Ismail Khan, NA-43 Khyber, NA-52, 53, and NA-54 Islamabad, NA-57, 59, 60, 62 and NA-63 Rawalpindi, NA-67 Jhelum, NA-97 Bhakkar, NA-126 and NA-130 Lahore, NA-155 and NA-156 Multan, NA-191 Dera Ghazi Khan, NA-241, 242, 243, 244, 247, 250, 252, 254, and NA-256 Karachi and NA-265 Quetta.

On January 27, the ECP announced that by-elections for 33 vacant seats will be held on March 16.

“In pursuance of Section 57 of the Elections Act, 2017 (Act No. XXXIII of 2017), read with Section 102 and clause (4) of Article 224 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Election Commission hereby calls upon the electors of the undermentioned constituencies of the National Assembly of Pakistan, which have become vacant due to resignations and specifies in relation thereto the following dates for by-elections,” the notification issued by the ECP read.