By-elections: ECP announces appointment of returning officers

ISLAMABAD: Ahead of the upcoming by-polls, slated for early 2021, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday issued a notification, confirming the appointment of various district returning officers, returning officers, and assistant returning officers in different constituencies.

"In pursuance of the provisions of Section 50 and 51 of the Elections Act, 2017 (Act No. XXXIII of 2017) read with Section 102 thereof, the Election Commission of Pakistan hereby appoints the following as District Returning Officers, Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers for the purpose of holding bye-elections to fill the vacant seats in the under mentioned National/Provincial Assembly constituencies," the notification read.

The ECP made the appointments in NA-45 Kurram-I, NA-75 Sialkot-IV, PP-51 Gujranwala-I, and PK-63 Nowshera-III. The by-polls were expected to conclude on February 18, 2021.

Earlier this week, Geo News   reported citing sources that the PTI-led government has decided to hold Senate elections in February instead of March 2021, with the development reportedly approved during a Tuesday meeting of the Cabinet under Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The government decided to use "open voting" for the elections, sources had added.

Senator Shibli Faraz, the information minister, had said in a press conference that the federal government was striving to make the Senate elections free and fair. "Controversies have always surrounded the Senate elections," he had said.

"It is such an old practice that it is assumed that in the elections, [horse trading] will surely take place," he had added.