Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday expressed satisfaction over accomplishment of constitutional obligation to hold the local government elections under Article 140A of Constitution with the election of mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and vice-chairmen in Punjab.
The ECP stated, "It is a moment of satisfaction that the constitutional obligation upon the ECP to hold Local Government Elections under Article 140A of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan has been accomplished with the election of mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and vice-chairmen in Punjab province."
The commission conducted local government elections in the cantonment boards for the first time in April 2015 against direct seats of 42 cantonment boards, whereas elections to indirect seats were held in the month of May 2015. Moreover, the local government elections for the Islamabad Capital Territory were held in November 2015 against 731 seats of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad.
The commission also undertook the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province from May 2015 to August 2015 against 42,858 constituencies and such returned candidates were accordingly notified. After the oath of nazims and naib nazims, local government institutions of the KPK province had been functioning since September 2015.
The direct elections in the Punjab and Sindh provinces were held in three phases from October 2015 to December 2015 against 15,081 seats of the Sindh province and 31,692 seats of Punjab province. The elections to all but 5,000 indirect seats of the Sindh province were held from May 2016 to June 2016 and completed with the election of chairmen, vice-chairmen, mayors and deputy mayors etc in the month of August 2016.
The ECP conducted elections to 20,075 indirect seats of Punjab province in the month of November 2016 and on Thursday with the elections of mayor, deputy mayors, chairmen and vice chairmen in the province, the ECP has fulfilled its mandate of conducting local government elections throughout the country against more than 115,200 constituencies of the local government institutions.
It is pertinent to cite here the ECP has already completed the process of local government elections in Balochistan against 13,180 seats in 2013-14. The ECP has appreciated the assistance, co-operation and support by all stakeholders and state institutions in the successful conduct of such elections. Earlier on Thursday, the commission issued the code of conduct for the political parties and candidates for the local government elections.
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