As Sindh seeks time for delimitation, ECP hopeful of holding LB polls in time

ECP additional secretary hopeful issue can be resolved by Wednesday. Army for sensitive polling stations.

ISLAMABAD: Additional Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan, Sher Afgan told the media on Tuesday that the Commission will resolve the issue of ballot papers by Wednesday, after which local-government elections will be conducted on time in all the provinces, Express News reported.

Afgan's press briefing came after the Commission held a meeting in Islamabad today to discuss the implementation of orders from the Supreme Court among other important issues related to local-body polls.

Reports had indicated that the timely organisation of elections was being threatened by the impossibility of arranging enough ballot papers in time.

Afgan confirmed the fears that the commission was facing a problem and that polls may not be possible if at least 500 million ballot papers were not printed soon.

But he remained hopeful that the Commission will be able resolve the problem after a meeting with representatives from all government press agencies including the Printing Press of Pakistan and Security Printing Karachi on Wednesday.

Afgan said the workload will be divided between the companies and the arrangement of ballot papers made possible.

The Secretary also said that the Commission had asked the PCSIR for supplying them with stamp pads for the polling process.

"We let the PCSIR know of our requirement of at least 2.2 million magnetised-ink stamp pads, and they will get back to us within a few hours with news on how soon they can provide these, because it's a large number."

Afgan added the Appellate Authority in Punjab will not be the Commissioner or the District Magistrate anymore. This is because the returning officers (RO) are usually assistant commissioners or other administrative officers, and their actions should be made accountable to someone other than their own senior. Hence, the Appellate Authority will now be a judicial official.

Speaking on delimitation, Afgan revealed that Sindh had admitted to facing difficulties in the process but had promised to finalise delimitation and submit their papers by November 13. Punjab will do it by November 4 whereas Balochistan has completed delimitation in their last three regions - Pishin, Khuzdar and Quetta.

In response to a question on how it would be possible to announce the election schedule by Nov 1 and conduct polls in Sindh if delimitation would not be finalised as late as November 13, the ECP official stayed hopeful.

"The real issue is ballot papers, and we will resolve that by tomorrow [Wednesday]," he said.

Afgan added that the Secretary Finance was present at the meeting and has assured the Commission that they'll receive all the necessary funds within a few days.

Among other decisions, the ECP has also decided that the army will be deployed at sensitive stations in all the provinces once they have sent in their respective requirements as per the polling scheme.