Qaiser gets notice for flouting election code ahead of KP LG polls

ISLAMABAD: A provincial official of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) served a notice on National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser for violating the code of conduct ahead of the local government (LG) elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and directed him to appear on Monday to explain his position.

In case of non-compliance with the directives, the matter will be referred to the commission "for the initiation of necessary proceedings against you (Qaiser)" under the Election Act, 2017, the notice, issued December 10, said.

The notice alluded to an audio clip of the speaker wherein he is appealing to voters for their support and promising funding to ruling candidates.

Qaiser is heard "saying that project tenders are in process and soon these tenders will be notified", it observed.

Separately, the Swabi district monitoring officer (DMO) sent the clip and a letter to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) chairperson, requesting him to perform a forensic analysis of the clip to ascertain its authenticity and track its origin.

He further requested the official to provide the required information by December 15.

The elections in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including capital Peshawar, are scheduled to take place on December 19 and the commission has released its schedule.

After the first round of the polls, elections in 18 additional districts will be held on January 16.

A total of 19,282 candidates are contesting for the seats of general councillors on 2,359 village council and neighbourhood council levels, while the number of female candidates is 3,905.

The districts which will go to the polls include Buner, Bajaur, Swabi, Peshawar, Nowshera, Kohat, Karak, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Tank, Haripur, Khyber, Mohmand, Charsadda, Mardan, Hangu and Lakki Marwat.