Commission also notifies the appellate authorities for disposal of appeals against the decisions of returning officers PHOTO: APP/FILE
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday formally announced the returning officers (ROs) who will be receiving nomination papers from candidates ahead of next month’s local government elections in Balochistan.
Deputy commissioners will act as district returning officers and assistant commissioners will serve as returning officers while the tehsildars and in some cases naib tehsildars will act as assistant returning officers for the December 7 poll.
Balochistan will become the first province to hold local government elections after the last LG system expired back in 2009. In some areas of Balochistan the commission has notified officials of the education department and local government as returning officers and assistant returning officers. However, they will all be supervised by deputy commissioners as district returning officers in all 30 districts of the province.
The election commission also notified the appellate authorities for disposal of appeals against the decisions of returning officers on either rejection or acceptance of nomination papers filed by candidates contesting the upcoming elections.
In the districts where the lower judiciary is headed by district and sessions judges, these judges will act as appellate authorities while in other districts the additional districts and sessions judges will do the hearing.
According to the schedule of LG polls in the province, nomination papers will be received on November 7 and 8, while November 9 has been set as the date for filing objections against nomination papers. The scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on November 10 and 11 while appeals against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers will be filed from November 12 to 16.
The appeals will be disposed of on November 17 and 18. November 19 is the last date for withdrawal of candidature and the final list of candidates will be published the same day. The polling will take place on December 7.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2013.
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