ECP issues polls schedule for Punjab PA, six NA seats

The Election Commission of Pakistan announced on Wednesday the general elections for the Punjab Assembly will be held on April 30 along with by-polls on six National Assembly seats, all vacated by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

The ECP issued the election schedule, saying that it would issue public notice inviting the nomination papers for the election on March 11, kick-starting more than seven weeks of election process.

According to the schedule, the filing of nomination papers would begin on March 12 and the process would continue till March 14, after which the names of the candidates would be published on March 15.

The scrutiny of nomination papers would be conducted on March 22, while March 27 had been fixed as the last date for filing of appeals against decisions of the returning officer, either rejecting or accepting the nomination papers.

The appeals would be decided by the appellate tribunal by April 3. Then the revised lists of candidates would be published on April 4 and the candidates would be able to withdraw their nomination papers till April 5, according to the ECP schedule.

On April 6, the list of contesting candidates would be finalised with the allotment of the election symbols and voting would be held on April 30. The parties had also been told to submit priority lists for the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims by March 14.

Besides, the ECP issued the schedule for by-election to six National Assembly seats – NA 22 Mardan-III; NA 24 Charsadda-II; NA 31 Peshawar-V; NA 108 Faisalabad-VIII; NA 118 Nankana Sahib-II and NA 239 Korangi Karachi-I.

These seats were won by PTI Chairman Imran Khan in by-polls last year. Imran had won a total of seven seats in the by-polls, however, the ECP de-notified the former prime minister from six of them on February 24.

The date of election in Punjab on April 30 was announced by President Dr Arif Alvi after consulting the ECP on the orders of the Supreme Court. The ECP had suggested the election between April 30 and May 7.

The Punjab Assembly was dissolved by then chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in January on the instructions of PTI chairman. Imran had also instructed for the dissolution of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly, which was also dissolved in the same month.

For the general election in K-P, the Supreme Court had asked the provincial governor to appoint the date of voting in consultation with the ECP, however, no date had been announced so far.

On Wednesday, a three-member ECP team, including Secretary Omar Hameed Khan, Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal Hussain and Director General Law Arshad Khan held consultations with the governor regarding the election date.

The governor apprised the ECP team of the overall situation in the province, including law and order. After two hours long consultative session, the process for the fixation of the date for general elections in the province entered into final phase.

Meanwhile, the ECP plans a flurry of meetings this week as part of its preparations for the elections in the two provinces. According to the ECP spokesperson, a meeting would be held with the interior secretary and the finance secretary on Thursday (today).

It is learnt that the Finance Ministry would be asked to ensure provision of funds for the elections, while the interior secretary would be asked to ensure the availability of security personnel for election duty.

The ECP had also summoned the relevant officials from defence ministry and the Directorate of Military Operations for a briefing on security-related matters on Friday (tomorrow).

The caretaker Punjab chief minister, the provincial Chief Secretary and the inspector general of police had been called to Election Commission Secretariat Islamabad on March 13.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)