New timeframe for LG polls: ECP to review provinces’ poll preparations today

The election authority will get feedback from provinces and all the relevant authorities to meet the new deadline.

ISLAMABAD:

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will meet all stakeholders today (Tuesday) to review the provinces’ preparations for holding local government (LG) elections in accordance with proposed revised schedule.

Ascertaining if local government elections can take place in January and February as committed before the Supreme Court, the election authorities will get feedback from provinces and all the relevant authorities to meet the new deadline.

Postponed last week, the LG polls are now due on January 18 and January 30 in Sindh and Punjab respectively. In its revised schedule submitted before the Supreme Court, the ECP also committed to hold the LG polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), cantonment areas and federal capital in February next year.

The Supreme Court on November 12 accepted the request of the ECP to extend the timeframe for holding local government elections only after it submitted a new proposed schedule.

Earlier the ECP had notified to hold the LG polls on November 28 in Sindh and on December 7 in Punjab and Balochistan.

The commission has not only invited the chief secretaries of all the provinces, but also the key federal officials – including secretaries to the president and prime minister to get firm commitments at the highest level.



According to agenda of the meeting available with The Express Tribune, apart from other issues, the chief secretaries will apprise the meeting of the latest status of LG laws in their respective provinces, framing of rules and delimitation processes.

The meeting is also likely to fanalise the colours of ballot papers to be used. The provincial election commissioners will update the participants on status of reconciling electoral rolls in accordance with local government constituencies, the document says.

According to the agenda, the head of Military Lands and Cantonment Department will also be asked to give the timeframe for local government polls in cantonment areas while the K-P chief secretary will be asked to do the same for his province.

Directors general of Printing Corporation of Pakistan and Pakistan Security Printing Corporations have been asked to come up with plan for procurement and printing of election material including ballot papers.

Interestingly, Sindh had to notify its delimitations by November 13 but it has failed to complete the process so far.  Some political parties in Sindh and the K-P have already been demanding that polls in their provinces should not be held before March.

The ECP sources said that they were hearing some reports that Balochistan also wanted to change the polling day. “There are also some weak voices in Punjab that say that January will not be suitable month for polls,” the official said.

“No one is saying it clearly. We want clear-cut roadmap from provinces and relevant departments,” a high official of the ECP said.

Voters list open for registration

After the ECP recalled previous schedule, the electoral list is open for changes in all the three provinces except Balochistan where the schedule is intact.

“New voters can register themselves now. The voters’ lists will be frozen once again when new schedule is notified,” a spokesman for the ECP said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2013.