ECP to approach SC for staggered LG polls in Punjab, Sindh

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is considering approaching the Supreme Court (SC) to hold staggered local government elections in Punjab and Sindh to avoid the mess that was caused in the KP following PTI’s demand to hold these polls in one day in the entire province.
Sources in the ECP say that the Commission is expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss the option of filing a review appeal before the Supreme Court, which had directed the Commission to hold local government elections in a province in one day.
These sources said that the ECP was in favour staggered local government elections but not only the apex court directed otherwise as the PTI was insisting to hold these elections in the entire province on one day.
Chief election commissioner (CEC), ECP members and the top mandarins in the Commission are shocked to see PTI Chief Imran Khan and Chief Minister KP Pervez Khattak blaming the Commission for the election mess and for holding it in the entire province on one day.
“We were reluctant to get into this controversy but the irresponsible attitude of the PTI chief and the KP chief minister compelled us to issue a rejoinder,” a source said, adding that the ECP has documentary evidence to prove the PTI government’s insistence on holding these elections in the entire province in one day.
These sources said that on Nov 25, 2014, the secretary local government KP wrote a letter to the provincial advocate general and shared it with the Election Commission of Pakistan besides certain other official authorities, seeking the holding of local government elections in the entire province on one day.
In a high-level meeting held in the ECP in December 2014 and also attended by the KP authorities, the agenda of introducing biometric system in Peshawar and conducting local government elections on one day in the entire KP was discussed. The minutes of the meeting, the sources said, also show the PTI government was pressing to hold elections in the entire province the same day as against the party’s stance today.
The ECP sources said that unlike KP, not even a single bullet was fired during the local government elections in Balochistan. Holding local government elections the same day in the entire province, they said, requires huge resources besides extra-ordinary deployment of police, FC and even armed forces.In view of the bad experiences of KP local government elections, the ECP wants to hold staggered local government elections in Punjab and Sindh on the basis of available sources.
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