ECP decides on KP, Punjab, cantonment boards polls today

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will hold an important meeting today (Monday) for consultation and make announcement on the holding of local bodies elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab and cantonment boards.

Similarly, the electoral body will hold another meeting next day (February 2) on conducting the electoral exercise for local bodies in Sindh, Balochistan and Islamabad and important announcements were expected at the end of the meeting, a senior official said here.

In connection with these upcoming events, the ECP has summoned the four provincial election commissioners, the secretaries of Local Government, the director Military Land and the home secretary.

In its meeting Tuesday, the ECP will also review the work of the Scrutiny Committee on the widely discussed foreign funding cases of different political parties.

Previously, the ECP met in January 21, to deliberate on the holding of local government elections in Punjab and KP, which took place in continuation of the meeting held on January 6, 2021.

In which the Punjab government was directed to inform the ECP about the date of holding of local body elections within 15 days and to publish the names of the village and neighbourhood council by January 10, 2021 and give the details to the ECP.

The ECP was informed that the notification of appointment of competent officers for registration of electoral groups and appointment of competent officers for hearing against the approval rejection of their applications dated 15th January, 2021. The schedule for registration of electoral groups will be issued after the formal approval of the ECP.

The forum was told that constituencies were being demarcated in 6 districts of KP, while demarcation in tehsil wise village/neighbourhood council had not been started by the provincial government in Peshawar district, while notification of conduct of election rules was still pending.

In that meeting, Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat had told the ECP that the Punjab government proposed to hold the local body elections by September 2021. To this, the ECP directed that necessary information be provided within the stipulated time so that the date of local government elections can be fixed by the Election Commission.

In the light of the Punjab government's proposal, the ECP will decide the date of elections. Secretary Local Government, KP had informed the meeting that the Board of Revenue had received the notification of tehsil hudood of Peshawar and the number of tehsil wise village/neighbourhood council will be notified soon.

The ECP had directed that all documents be provided within 15 days. It also directed to bring along necessary instructions from the government in the next meeting of the commission on what dates the provincial government wants to hold elections.