LG polls in K-P not possible this year: ECP

Says polls can be organized in March next year

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday ruled out the possibility of conducting local government elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by November 15, the deadline fixed by Supreme Court earlier this year.

Secretary ECP Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan said that preparations to organise polls in the province will be completed by March next year.

Explaining the reason for delays, the ECP secretary listed time consuming tasks which have yet to be completed by the poll body. These include procurement of ballot papers in seven colours, one each for the category of seats devised in the provincial LG system. Of the seven colours chosen for these categories, three are not available with Printing Corporation of Pakistan which prints ballots. He added that it would need two to three months just to procure the paper, seriously denting chances of conducting elections in November.

Khan further said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the ruling party in the province, wants biometric voters’ identification system implemented for the local government elections. For this purpose, the ECP would require another few months to procure electronic voting machines (EVMs).

The secretary said the commission will explain this to the Supreme Court on Monday and request the apex court to give it time till March next year to hold local government polls in K-P.

Imran Khan led PTI says it is ready for local government polls, having completed delimitations and had passed LG laws earlier this year.

However the PTI-led K-P government remained silent on the issue till the apex court once again took up the LG polls case and summoned the provinces and ECP to get update on court’s deadline to hold polls.

The supreme court in March had directed the provincial governments and ECP to hold LG polls. Local government polls have been pending in other three provinces since 2009. Balochistan, where local government elections took place almost a year back, the system is yet to start functioning.

By polls in NA-149

ECP on Thursday claimed that it has used specialised ink for thumb impressions on counterfoils of ballot papers in NA-149 Multan which went to polls on Thursday.

ECP officials said that this ink was different than the magnetic ink used in 2013 general elections. They also claimed that new ink would make it possible to verify every ballots cast in the polls.

To a question, the ECP secretary said that it cannot take action on its own based on media reports that Hashmi’s supporters distributed leaflets after campaigning stopped 48 hours before the polling day. He added that under the law, the district returning officer is supposed to take notice of such an action, who has already sought a report from DCO Multan.