Banning the banners: Deadline to take down party paraphernalia ends

PESHAWAR:

The five-day deadline set by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to remove all wall chalking and billboards of political parties exceeding the legal size ended on Monday.

On March 6, the ECP ordered all political parties contesting elections to remove billboards supporting candidates of their parties. The order, however, seems to have received little attention as huge billboards can still be seen across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

The provincial election commission sent a notification to this effect to the home secretary, chief secretary, inspector general police, deputy commissioners, political agents and district police officers, ordering them to remove all advertisements of election campaigns.

ECP’s public relations officer Sohail Ahmad said they had only received a report from the deputy commissioner of DI Khan confirming the removal of all billboards in the district.

According to rules set by ECP on January 28, legal size for a billboard is 5x3 feet, 2x3 feet for a poster, 3x9 feet for a banner, while hand bills and paper are limited to 9x6 inches.

Jamaat-e-Islami’s provincial information secretary Advocate Israrullah appreciated the move, calling it “a good omen.” He, however, stressed the rule should apply to all major parties, adding authorities should also take action against advertising agencies for such mega-sized hoardings.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2013.