KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Sindh on Wednesday kicked-off the process of receiving nomination papers from the prospective National and Provincial Assembly candidates as the country gears up for a crucial general election on February 8, 2024.
As per Provincial Election Commissioner Sharifullah, the issuance and receipt of nomination papers has begun on December 19, and will continue till December 22.
Nomination papers for reserved seats can be submitted to Provincial ECP. Political parties can submit priority lists for reserved seats by December 22.
There are 29 seats for women and 9 seats for minorities in the provincial assembly. From Sindh, there are 14 seats for women in the National Assembly.
As many as 30 District Returning Officers (DROs) have been appointed in Sindh
ECP has also issued a code of conduct for the General Elections, 2024 and asked all political parties, candidates, and polling agents to uphold the rights and freedom of the people of Pakistan as guaranteed by the Constitution and law.
They should not propagate any opinion, or act in any manner prejudicial to the ideology, sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan, or morality or public order, or the integrity or independence of the judiciary of Pakistan, or which defames or brings into ridicule the Judiciary
and the Armed Forces
of Pakistan.
They must abide by all directions, instructions and regulations issued by the Election Commission, from time to time, relating to smooth conduct of elections, the maintenance of public order and morality and refrain from maligning the Election Commission in any form whatsoever, violation whereof would entail contempt as contemplated in Section 10 of the Elections Act 2017 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”).
The political parties, contesting candidates, election agents and their supporters shall not indulge in offering gifts or gratifications or inducements to any person to contest or not to contest as a candidate, or to withdraw or retire or not to withdraw or not to retire from the election.
Violation will be treated as corrupt practice.
The political parties, contesting candidates, election agents and their supporters shall extend cooperation to law enforcement agencies for ensuring the safety and security of election material, election officials and polling agents on polling day.
There will be a complete ban on carriage and display of all kinds of weapons and fire arms in public meetings and processions as well as on the polling day and until twenty-four hours after the consolidation of official results by the Returning Officers and official regulations in respect thereof shall be strictly observed.
All types of firing including aerial firing, use of crackers and other explosives at public meetings and at or near the polling stations by any person shall not be allowed. Violation will be treated as an illegal practice.
The Political Parties and candidates shall hold public rallies and processions only at the place or places and through the routes specified for the purpose. Such places and routes shall be pre-determined in every city and town by district/local administration in consultation with respective candidates or their authorized representatives and be notified for public information.
A political party or candidate or election agents while organizing a procession shall decide in timely manner its starting point and termination point along with its route and timelines and communicate the same to the district administration or local authority, District Monitoring Officer and shall in no case deviate from the programme.
The organizers in consultation with the District administration shall take steps in advance to arrange for passage of the procession so that there is no blockage of or hindrance to traffic. If the procession is very long, it shall be organized in segments of suitable lengths, so that at convenient intervals, especially at points where the procession has to pass road junctions, the passage of held-up traffic could be allowed by stages thus avoiding heavy traffic congestion and inconvenience to the general public.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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