Punjab suggests LG polls in Sept

Mumtaz Alvi

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government in a meeting held on Thursday at Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) proposed to hold local government elections in the province on September in phases. The ECP meeting was held here at the Election Commission Secretariat under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja in which members of the Election Commission, Punjab Law Minister, Secretary Election Commission, Punjab government and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa besides the Election Commission’s other officers attended. The meeting was about

holding local government elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which took place in continuation of the meeting held on January 6, 2021. In which the Punjab government was directed to informthe Election Commission about the date of holding local body elections within 15 days and to publish the names of the village and neighborhood councils by January 10, 2021 and give the details to the Election Commission. The Election Commission was informed that the notification of appointment of competent officers for registration of electoral groups and appointment of competent officers for hearing against the approval/rejection of their applications dated 15 January 2021 had been issued. The schedule for registration of electoral groups will be issued after the formal approval of the Election Commission. Constituencies are being demarcated in 6 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincewhile demarcation in tehsil wise village/neighborhood councils has not been started by the provincial government in Peshawar district while notification of conduct of election rules is still pending. Punjab LawMinister Raja Basharat told the Election Commission that the Punjab government proposed to hold the local government elections by September 2021. Within 15 more days, necessary details for the village panchayat/neighborhood elections will also be provided to the Election Commission. To this, the Election Commission directed that necessary information be provided within the stipulated time so that the date of local government elections can be fixed by the Election Commission. In the light of the Punjab government’s proposal, the Election Commissionwill decide the date of elections next week. Secretary Local Government, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa informed the meeting that the Board of Revenue has received the notification of tehsil hudood of Peshawar and the number of tehsil wise village/neighborhood councilswill be notified soon. In addition, the Conduct of Election Rules 2020 has been sent to the provincial cabinet and it is hoped that they will get formal approval fromthe cabinet at the next meeting. The ECP directed that all documents be provided within 15 days alongwith necessary instructions fromthe government in the next meeting of the commission on what dates the provincial government wanted to hold elections. The next meeting of the Election Commission would be convened after 15 days.