ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Friday issued the schedule for local government elections in 219 wards of 42 cantonment boards (CBs) across the country, to be held on Sep 12, this year.
According to the schedule, public notice for inviting nomination papers for LG polls to be issued on July 15, receipt of nomination papers on July 26-29, publication of notice of all nomination papers received on July 30, scrutiny of nomination papers and publication of names of nominated candidates on July 31-August 3, filing of appeals against acceptance/rejection of nomination papers August 4-7, last date of disposal of appeals by the appellate authorities on August 10, publication of revised list of candidates on August 11, last date for withdrawal of candidature on August 12, final list of candidates with allotted symbols on August 13, polling date September 12 and declaration of polls results will be September 17.
Of 42 CBs where the LG polls are scheduled, 20 are located in Punjab that have 119 wards, 11 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa having 37 wards, eight in Sindh having 54 wards and three in Balochistan having nine wards.
The 42 CBs are: Rawalpindi Cantonment, Taxila Cantonment, Wah Cantonment, Attock Cantonment, Kamra Cantonment Sanjwal Cantonment, Mangla Cantonment, Murree Hills Cantonment, Jhelum Cantonment, Kharian Cantonment, Lahore Cantonment, Walton Cantonment, Gujranwala Cantonment, Sialkot Cantonment, Shorkot Cantonment, Sargodha Cantonment, Okara Cantonment, Multan Cantonment, Bhawalpur Cantonment, Quetta Cantonment, Zhob Cantonment, Loralai Cantonment, Peshawar Cantonment, Nowshera Cantonment, Risalpur Cantonment, Cherat Cantonment, Mardan Cantonment, Kohat Cantonment, Bannu Cantonment, Dera Ismail Khan Cantonment, Murree Gallis Cantonment (separate from Murree Hills Cantonment), Havelian Cantonment, Abbottabad Cantonment, Hyderabad Cantonment, Pannu Aqil Cantonment, Faisal Cantonment, Malir Cantonment, Korangi Cantonment, Manora Cantonment, Clifton Cantonment and Karachi Cantonment.
Following the issuance of elections schedule, the ECP has barred all the executive authorities at the centre and in the provinces from announcing/launching any development package or using state resources in CBs elections “calculated to influence the elections in favour of a particular candidate.”
The ECP has also banned transfers and postings of the officials appointed by the electoral body to hold LG elections in CBs till the announcement of election results.
On 30th Jan 2020, the ECP announced to start delimitation of wards in 42 CBs across the country and listed March 27 last year as the date to issue the final notification regarding completion of the delimitation exercise.
However, on account of alarming spread of coronavirus across the country and issues concerning certain CBs, the LG polls in CBs that were scheduled last year, kept facing delay on one pretext or another till the ECP finally announced the polls schedule Friday.
On April 14, this year, the ECP published the list of seven CBs where delimitation of wards for local government polls was done afresh following the reclassification of these CBs by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). These seven CBs were: Malir, Korangi Creek, Abbottabad, Kamra, Taxila, Shorkot and Bahawalpur.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021