The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday started a scrutiny process of nomination papers filed by candidates for local government elections in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). As many as 2,958 candidates have filed nomination papers for local government elections in federal capital. An estimated 376 candidates would contest for the offices of chairman and vice- chairman.
The process of the scrutiny will continue till Wednesday after which, the appeals against acceptance or rejection of papers could be filed on November 5 and 6. The appeals would be disposed of from November 7 to 9. The ECP directed the political parties to allot party tickets to their candidates as soon as possible. The candidates have the option to withdraw their nomination papers by November 10 after which the final list of candidates and allotment of election symbols would be published on November 11, it said.
The polling would be held in ICT on November 30 and returning officers would announce the results on December 3. The ECP also started reviewing the seriousness of 136 complaints of various nature, filed during the local government election held on Saturday.
The ECP spokesman informed the media that overall LG elections in Sindh and Punjab remained peaceful except a firing incident that killed 11 people in Khairpur district of Sindh. "We will receive the inquiry report in couple of days," he added. About Khairpur incident, he said that there could be some personal enmity behind the killings, however an SHO and 14 police personnel were deployed in the union council.
The spokesman maintained that the commission received 49 complaints from Punjab and 87 from Sindh on various issues including misprinting of election symbols, candidates' names or against the election staff. He said that action would be taken against the election staff that failed to adhere to the election code of conduct. The commission further directed the authorities to collect evidence against the polling staff involved in any kind of irregularities in local government elections in Punjab and Sindh. The spokesman said that report has also sought about the slapping incident at Okara, where Rai Mujtaba Kharal, a candidate of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) slapped a presiding officer, which is illegal.
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