ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has organized a consultative meeting with country’s political parties in federal capital on February 9 to discuss, peaceful elections of provincial assemblies, code of ethics and other constitutional and legal issues with them and get their feedback for ensuring immaculate elections.
According to spokesperson for the ECP, the decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja held also to deliberate the dates for holding elections of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies.
ECP Secretary Omer Hamid Khan briefed the forum about arrangements for the elections of provincial assemblies of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and by-elections to 86 National Assembly constituencies.
The ECP members, Secretary and other senior officers attended the meeting. Secretary told the forum that the registrars of Lahore High Court and Peshawar High Courts have been asked to provide the services of judicial officers for holding free, fair upcoming elections of provincial assemblies.
The meeting decided to hold another meeting on Tuesday (February 7) in which chief secretaries of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with Inspector General of Police of both the province will brief the commission about elections of provincial assemblies, National Assembly by-elections, law and order situation and other issues in their respective jurisdictions.
Schedule for by-polls to 31 NA seats on March 19
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by-polls to 31 National Assembly constituencies will be held on March 19. The seats had fallen vacant due to resignations of PTI MNAs.
The notification says the returning officers (ROs) will issue a public notice in this regard on February 8, while the candidates will be able to file their nomination papers with the ROs from February 10-14, followed by publication of a list of the nominated candidates next day. The scrutiny of documents will be carried out till February 18.
The appeals against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers by the ROs can be filed on Feb 22. Last date for devising of appeals by the appellate tribunals will be Feb 27, followed by publication of the revised list of candidates on February 28. The candidates can withdraw their nominations papers and publication of revised list of candidates is fixed as Mar 01.
The candidates will be allotted election symbols on March 02 and the polling will be conducted on March 19.
The seats were vacated when the National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted the resignations of PTI lawmakers.
The by-elections will be held in these constituencies: NA-02 Swat-I; NA-03 Swat-II; NA-05 Upper Dir-I; NA-06 Lower Dir-I; NA-07 Lower Dir-II; NA-08 Malakand Protected Area; NA-09 Buner; NA-16 Abbottabad-II;NA-19, Swabi-II; NA-20, Mardan-01; NA-28, Peshawar-II; NA-30, Peshawar-IV;NA 34, Karak;NA-40, Bajaur-I; NA-42, Mohmand;NA-44, Khyber-II;NA-61,Rawalpindi-V;NA-70, Gujrat-III;NA-87, Hafizabad-I; NA-93,Khushab-I;NA-96, Mianwali-II; NA-107,Faisalabad-VII;NA-109,Faisalabad-IX;NA-135, Lahore-XIII;NA-150, Khanewal-I; NA-152,Khanewal-II;NA-158, Multan-V;NA-164, Vehari-III; NA-165,Vehari-IV;NA-177,Rahim Yar Khan-III and NA-187, Layyah-I.
Membership of three more parliamentarians restored
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday restored the membership of three more parliamentarians after submission of assets’ details.
Earlier, the ECP suspended the membership of as many as 271 lawmakers over their failure to submit details of their assets and liabilities.
The parliamentarians restored by the ECP include one member of the National Assembly and two members of the Sindh Assembly.
The restored members included MNA Ghulam Bibi, NA 115, Jhang-II and Provincial Assembly Sindh members Jamal Uddin Siddiqui, PS-106 Karachi East-VIII; Naseem, a member of provincial assembly (MPA) on reserve seat for women, said a notification issued by ECP.
