Pakistan Army has been called to perform its duty to supervise the re-polling process of the Local Government elections to be held on July 5. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will also inquire into the causes of mismanagement and violence in May 30 polling.
This was assured to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak by the Secretary ECP, Babar Yaqoob Fatih Muhammad who called on the Chief Minister at CM House on Thursday.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Election Commissioner was also accompanying him while the Provincial Education Minister Muhammad Atif and Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Amjad Ali Khan were also present in the meeting.
The Secretary ECP said that the army had accepted ECP request for deploying army personnel on all 365 polling stations on 5th July. He said that keeping in view the incidents of mismanagement that occurred on May 30 election day, ECP has taken certain necessary measures to ensure smooth and transparent re-polling on 5th July which also include better and clear printing of 2.3 million ballot papers.
Appreciating co-operation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government with ECP for holding LG elections in the province, Babar said the foreign world was also praising the establishment of Local Government system under a democratic provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Expressing his views on this occasion, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak referred to the May 30 incidents and said that the provincial government was not in favour of holding the LG elections in absence of the army. He, however, welcomed the ECP efforts for the army deployment for the re-polling as per demand of the provincial government.
Identifying the causes of untoward incidents on May 30 polling day, Pervez Khattak said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was looking into the causes of the mismanagement and compiling evidences of the incidents which, he added, would be presented to ECP for consideration. Assuring all possible co-operation on part of the provincial government for holding free, transparent and smooth re-polling on 5th July, the Chief Minister said large number of police personnel would also be deployed at the polling stations.