PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali has urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to address the concerns raised by political parties on the February 8 general elections.
In an interview with a private TV channel on Saturday night, he said: “It would be better if the election commission calls a high-level meeting of these political parties before the elections or a few days after them and takes action after hearing their concerns.”
The KP governor mentioned the issues of “law and order, 18-hour-long load-shedding and toughest winter” that were hindering the polls. He said the reason why people were questioning whether the elections would take place or not was that a “tempo is not being created”.
“In other areas where there is winter as well as snow — including Naran, Kalam, Swat and Chitral — people there say how will we encourage our voters to come out,” the governor said, adding that there were reports forecasting snowfall in Peshawar as well. Governor Ali stated that it was the provincial government’s duty to “improve the law and order situation and protect the people”. He said the federal government and state institutions were also responsible for the same, highlighting the army had agreed to deploy troops and provide the requisite support.
He added that he heard these concerns and told people that the date for the polls had been officially announced now. Ali further stated that none of the parties he had talked to “wanted the elections to not take place” but rather their “demand was for peace and protection”.
The governor said it was his “respectful request and suggestion” to the ECP to sit with the political parties and “convince” them how it could provide them protection. He stated that the constitutional timeframe of polls being held within 90 days of the National Assembly’s dissolution had passed “so elections should take place” but the reservations should be considered.
The governor said Peshawar was facing the “toughest winter” and asked, “Which voter would come out [of their homes] in this situation?”
