Local elections: Nominations extended for a day

Schedule for publication of nominations list not extended.

LAHORE:

The Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday gave prospective candidates an extra day to submit their nomination papers for local government elections in the Punjab, as confusion over voting lists, new union council boundaries and the election schedule persisted.

November 12 was originally scheduled to have been the last day for candidates to submit their nominations. The ECP decided to extend the deadline by a day after several candidates complained that they were registered in the wrong union council, said ECP spokeswoman Huda Gohar.

However, the next step in the process – the publication of nominated candidates and submission of objections to the list of nominees – has not been extended, and remains scheduled for November 13 (today).

Gohar said that the city’s 34 returning officers would receive nominations up to 4pm on Wednesday, then put up the list of nominees, and then receive objections up to 10pm. “It will be tough, but there is nothing we can do,” she said.

Speaking off the record, several returning officers said that it would be impossible for them to take in thousands of nomination papers, publish nominee lists and then take in objections over the course of just one day. They will also be required to vet the nominees in just a few days.

Many candidates also faced difficulties due to the unavailability of maps with the returning officers or at district government offices of the newly drawn union council boundaries for the elections, scheduled for December 7.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2013.