ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday retracted a statement made by its spokesman over intentions of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers to resign en-mass from all the four provincial assemblies.
It is pertinent to note that earlier in the day, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) maintained that by-polls will be held within 60 days if mass resignations were served in Punjab and KP assemblies.
The statement however was criticised by political commentators who said that the ECP had adopted a political role by taking position against the biggest political party of the country.
ECP Spokesperson Ibrahim Shinwari, in a statement on Monday, clarified that if the provincial assemblies were to be dissolved, elections will only be carried out on the seats of those particular assemblies rather than the National Assembly seats.
The ECP official acknowledged that it would be difficult to hold by-polls and general elections in the same year but added that the Commission was bound by the law to carry out the task.
“Delimitations of constituencies and holding local-body polls was also a difficult task but we still did it,” Shinwari said. “We will hold the by-polls according to the law even if it will be difficult to do so.”
The ECP spokesperson said if KP and Punjab assemblies are dissolved, the Commission will have to hold elections on combined 411 seats, and the complete cost of the entire process will be Rs22 billion approximately.
“The cost of by elections in each constituency will be Rs50 to 70 million,” he added.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja has vowed to take steps for further improving the Computerized Electoral Roll System (CERS) to bring more transparency in the electoral process.
Chairing a meeting on CERS, he reviewed the suggestions for bringing improvement in the computerized electoral system of all the provinces.
Director MIS Babar Malik gave a detailed briefing on the CERS system which was used for the registration of voters and compiling the electoral rolls.
The meeting discussed the initiatives which could bring transparency in new voters’ registration, tracking and monitoring process. The CEC welcomed the suggestions in this regard.
