ECP asks political parties to hold intra-party polls 

Islamabad

Citing the Political Parties Order 2002 and relevant rules, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday called on all those political parties whose status was dormant to conduct intra-party polls and submit annual party accounts.

Through a public notice, the Election Commission has called on political parties to conduct intra-party elections at central, provincial and local levels and submit their annual party accounts immediately in order to be eligible as enlisted political party for allotment of election symbols and contesting any upcoming elections.

In case of failure of a political party to comply with the provisions of the Political Parties Order 2002, the Election Commission may remove name of the party from the list of political parties duly enlisted with the ECP and may withdraw the election symbol(s) already allotted and make it available for allotment to any other eligible party or independent candidate(s).

“The Election Commission desires that all political parties may also update their mailing/email addresses, telephone numbers and fax numbers for convenience and as a preparatory measure for general elections 2018,” it said.

In another development, in order to increase the capacity of the Election Commission officials a comprehensive training programme was launched on Thursday.  This training programme is continuation of the provincial trainings which started in November 2016.

So far, more than 150 officials of grade 8-16 have been trained. The number of trained staff will cross 400 in the next two months. Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, Secretary ECP, inaugurated the training programme for 100 officials of the ECP at Islamabad Secretariat.

This training programme is aimed at improving capacity of the staff in the daily official work. The secretary, while addressing officials in the inauguration ceremony, said he believed that trained human resource, well equipped with the latest technology, would help the ECP hold free and fair elections.