The Regional Election Commissioner / DRO Hyderabad Aijaz Anwar Chohan has urged the officers concerned to ensure strict compliance with various code of conducts issued by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the conduct of free fair and transparent Local Government Elections (LGE) 2015 in accordance with law in Hyderabad Division.
He was presiding over a high-level meeting to review arrangements for the conduct of Local Government Elections, at old Zila Nazim Secretariat Hyderabad on Thursday. Divisional Commissioner Hyderabad Syed Asif Haider Ali Shah, DIG Police Hyderabad Khadim Rind, all DCs/DROs, ROs, SSPs, District Election Commissioners and other officers concerned attended the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Chohan made it clear that according to the Constitution of Pakistan, it is a duty of all executive authorities in the Federation and in the Provinces to assist the Regional and District Election Commissioners and ECP in the discharge of their duties.
He informed all executive authorities of Hyderabad Division that no transfers / postings of civil servants shall be made without a prior approval of the ECP till the culmination of the LGE and added that neither any development project shall be announced nor state resources used to influence the elections in favour of a particular candidate. He informed the meeting that if any person in government service misuses his official position in any manner in order to influence results of the elections, he shall be liable to be processed under Section 68 of Sindh Local Government, Act, 2013.
He informed that any holder of Public Office, who is found to have violated any provision of election laws or the instructions issued by the ECP, shall be processed against as mandated in law.
Chohan asked the officers of district administrations to provide full assistance to the DRO/ROs in the discharge of their functions at all stages of electoral process. He directed them to provide government vehicles and other required accessories to DRO/ROs for smooth conduct of elections and also to provide the lists of government buildings and polling personnel to ROs. He stressed upon the DROs to select safe and suitable places for storage of all election materials received from the ECP.
He directed the SSPs of the division to ensured extraordinary security arrangements at the place of storage of election materials as well as highly sensitive and sensitive polling stations on polling day. He also asked the HESCO authority to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity in all the offices of DROs/ROs/DEC in Hyderabad Division till the culmination of election process.
He also informed the meeting that DROs and ROs shall be responsible to ensure the implementation of the code of conduct in their capacity as First Class Magistrate through District Administration, District Police and other law enforcement agencies in the area of their jurisdictions and added that any violation by any candidate or political party shall be tantamount to malpractices and shall entail legal action as per law including disqualification of the candidate.
Divisional Commissioner Hyderabad Syed Asif Haider Shah, addressing the meeting, has said that the holding of LGE 2015 is a National Task and we all have to work like a team. He also underlined the need for close coordination among DROs, ROs, AROs and District election commissioners for smooth conduct of elections. He asked the DROs and ROs to select such premises for polling stations which have civic facilities. He underlined the need for reserve polling staff so that any delay in electoral process due to the absence of polling staff could be avoided. He also directed to establish Emergency Response Cell in each district of the Division. He also asked the DROs to submit their demands if any to concerned officers of the ECP so that all arrangements could be completed for holding of elections.
The DIG Police Hyderabad Khadim Rind, addressing the meeting said that although the LGE are different to General Elections in regard to increased number of candidates yet police is capable enough to maintain Law & order during electoral process. He directed the SSPs of the division to check the criminal record of contesting candidates and report the same to DRO or RO concerned, who will decide about his/her disqualification from the elections. He stressed upon selecting polling stations which has compound wall.
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