Holding LB polls constitutional responsibility of ECP: CEC

ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja said holding local bodies elections was the constitutional responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the cooperation of the governments and departments concerned was vital to carry out this exercise.

Regarding the holding of local bodies’ elections, an important meeting of the ECP was held Wednesday at the Election Commission Secretariat that was chaired by the Chief Election Commissioner. Provincial Election Commissioners of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan participated in the meeting through video link.

In his opening remarks, the Chief Election Commissioner said holding local bodies elections in the country on time was the constitutional responsibility of the ECP and the Election Commission would ensure that local bodies elections were held on time across the country. “The cooperation of governments and other relevant authorities is essential,” he emphasized. Relevant officers of the Local Government Elections Wing briefed the Election Commission on the preparations for the local bodies’ elections across the country.

The meeting was informed that the Punjab government has not yet provided the necessary documents and maps regarding the delimitation in the province on which the Commission directed that in this regard the Punjab government should be written to issue a zoning rules declaration immediately and all necessary documents and maps should be provided to the Election Commission, so that the demarcation work could be started.

Moreover, the Election Commission issued instructions that since the 2017 census has been approved by the Council of Common Interests, Sindh and Balochistan provinces should be written to provide the necessary documents and maps to start zoning in these provinces. Likewise, the zoning in seven districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be resumed from the stage where the zoning was frozen.

The Election Commission further directed that with reference to the local bodies elections of Islamabad Capital Territory, the home affairs ministry should be written that the number of union councils in the federal territory should be provided within a specified period otherwise the Election Commission would delimit the old number of union councils so that the work of demarcation could be completed.

The meeting was informed that all the preparations have been completed for the local bodies’ elections of the Cantonment boards. However, a formal request has yet to be received from the federal government in this connection on which the Commission issued an order to contact the authorities concerned. It should be noted that the application for holding the election should be made within a specified period otherwise the Election Commission will consider the date of holding the election using its constitutional powers. The next meeting of the Election Commission regarding local bodies’ elections has been convened on May 27, 2021 in which the local government secretaries of all the provinces, ministry of home affairs, Military Land and Cantonments and officials concerned of the Statistics Department will also be summoned.

The meeting will review the implementation of Wednesday’s decisions and preparations for the local bodies’ elections.