Staying put, ECP rejects pleas to delay LB polls

Balloting in Sindh on Jan 18 & in Punjab on Jan 30; changes made to ink components will help verify identity of voters

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday rejected pleas to further delay the local bodies (LB) elections and stood firm on its decision to conduct the exercise on Jan 18 and Jan 30 in Sindh and Punjab, respectively.

“The process of LB elections in the country will be completed before Feb 28 at all costs,” ECP Additional Secretary Sher Afgan told reporters after a meeting at the commission. “We’ve made a commitment to the Supreme Court. Everyone is bound to follow the court orders.”

The ECP remains committed to the December 7 date for the polls in Balochistan. It also announced that the LB elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad Capital Territory and cantonment boards would be held in February, next year.

Sher Afgan said the commission has directed Sindh and Punjab to complete legislative work, framing of rules and notify delimitations before Nov 28. The polling schedule for the two provinces will be notified on Nov 29.



The commission – headed by Acting Chief Election Commissioner Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court who is slated to replace Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as chief justice of Pakistan next month – rejected arguments for the election delay and reminded the stakeholders of the court’s orders.

Sher Afgan said the advocates general of the provinces as well as the attorney general were present in the court when the ECP had proposed the new dates. “None of them raised any objection before the court,” he added.

The dates on which the last schedule was notified were also proposed by the provinces in writing before the apex court. The court had declared the proposed dates as final and ordered the ECP to issue a schedule accordingly. However, after the schedule was notified the two provinces were not ready to go for polls.

Putting ink to paper

In its new proposed schedule, the ECP has given 18 days for the printing of ballot papers for Sindh and 34 days for Punjab. The inability of government printing houses to print millions of ballot papers in time was one of the major reasons for the postponement of polls which were earlier scheduled for November 27 in Sindh and December 7 in Punjab.

An ECP official said the commission has equally distributed the burden of printing of seven million nomination forms and 41 million ballot papers for these two provinces between the Printing Corporation of Pakistan (PCP) and the Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC). These organisations will also be responsible for the procurement of paper for this purpose.

While they may get help from other government sector printing houses, he said that no printing will be allowed from private printing companies to ensure the secrecy and security of election material.

Similarly, the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research will provide magnetic ink for thumb impressions of voters on the counterfoils of ballot papers. Sher Afgan said that changes made to ink components will avert rigging allegations as the new ink will help Nadra verify identity of voters easily.

Proposed schedule

The new and apparently rational schedule will be notified on November 29. According to which, nomination papers will be received in Sindh and Punjab from December 10 to 13. Nomination papers will be printed between November 29 and December 10.

Objections against nominations will be filed on December 14 and the scrutiny will be conducted from December 15 to 19. Appeals against acceptance or rejections of nominations can be filed on December 20 and 21.

Appellate authorities will have to decide all petitions before December 25. The following day has been reserved for the aspiring candidates who wish to withdraw from the race and the final list will be published the same day.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2013.