LG polls in Cantt Boards: PPP accuses PTI of violating rules

RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has filed an application before the regional election commissioner/chief executive officer (CEO), Cant Board, Rawalpindi, and blamed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates are violating election rules, using money, power and government machinery to swing local body polls.

The application was filed by PPP (Cant) President Malik Zaheer Arshad here on Friday.

The PPP has blamed that Punjab Law Minister Basharat Raja is giving ‘political bribe’ to his voters through development works. He is continuously doing development works and inaugurating new schemes in the areas where PTI candidates are contesting local body elections. The complainant alleged that PTI MNAs and MPAs are using money, power and government machinery to swing local body polls which is a violation of election rules. The PPP has also blamed that PTI MNAs and MPAs remain present in all election campaigns.

The complainant requested the regional election commissioner/chief executive officer (CEO), Cant Board, Rawalpindi to ban PTI MNAs, MPAs, especially Basharat, from interfering in local body polls. The Cantonment Board Management should be neutral to hold free and fair local body polls, the PPP demanded.

On the other hand, the election campaign is in full swing in the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) and Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) wards. Candidates of at least eight political parties and independent contenders have entered the competition for the September 12 party-based elections in 20 wards of the RCB and the CCB. The candidates have started popping up hangers and posters with their election symbols at prominent places. The sale of toys with election symbols has gone up in markets falling within the purview of cantonment boards and vendors are having a field day. The candidates are distributing toys with their election symbols among voters and their children in cantonment areas. The demand for toys such as cars, trees, cranes, jeeps, pistols, rifles, railway engines, trains, bulbs, deer, horses, and elephants has increased. A total of 216 candidates are going to contest local government elections in the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board and the Chaklala Cantonment Board.

According to Returning Officers of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board Umar Farooq Ali Malik and Shahid Iqbal, 140 candidates have submitted their nomination papers for different wards in RCB. Out of these, the nomination papers of 22 candidates were rejected on different grounds. The nomination papers of 12 candidates out of over 110 candidates were rejected for failing to fulfill the election criteria, stated Returning Officers Wasim Shahid and Muhammad Hayat for the Chaklala Cantonment Board. According to the list of eligible candidates displayed by the RCB returning officers, around 17 candidates would vie for the seat of councillor in Ward 1, followed by 21 in Ward 2, 10 in Ward 3, 12 in Ward 4 and 7 in Ward 5. Similarly, the RCB declared six candidates eligible for Ward 6, 15 for Ward 7, nine for Ward 8, seven for Ward 9 and 12 for Ward 10.

On the other hand, the returning officers in the Chaklala Cantonment Board declared four candidates eligible in Ward 1, nine in Ward 2, 13 in Ward 3, seven in Ward 4 and 10 in Ward 5. Besides, the returning officers declared 11 candidates eligible for Ward 6, nine for Ward 7, 12 for Ward 8, 11 for Ward 9, and 12 for Ward 10. The returning officers allotted the traditional election symbols to candidates belonging to leading political parties, such as ‘arrow’ to the PPP, ‘lion’ to the PMLN and ‘bat’ to the PTI. Besides, the electoral symbols of crane, tractor, chair, etc, were allotted to candidates of other parties and independent candidates.

According to political pundits, the real contest is likely to be held among PML-N, PTI, JI and PPP candidates.

It is pertinent to mention here that the PML-N has been dominating the politics of both boards for the last 28 years. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the cantonment authorities have laid down strict conditions to run election campaigns in 42 cantonment boards across the country.