Minister gives credit to PTI govt for holding impartial LG polls

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Faisal Amin Gandapur on Tuesday said it was a historic achievement of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for holding transparent and impartial local bodies elections in 17 districts of the province.

In an official handout, he said the elections were held in a transparent and impartial manner with certain reforms.

“We have taken a number of fundamental measures that are based on our national dignity, country’s security and public welfare while we will also eliminate the scourge of inflation and unemployment from the country,” he added.

The handout said that he was talking to various delegations including the journalists at his hujra in Dera Ismail Khan. On this occasion, he listened to the problems and grievances of the people patiently and instructed the authorities for action.

Expressing his views on the LG election, the minister gave credit to the PTI government for holding the local bodies election.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had been serious from day one about devolution of powers and that was why the provincial government honoured its promise and introduced certain reforms. He said the chances of horse-trading in the elections of city mayors and tehsil chairmen had been eliminated, which was a great development.

“We will now carry out the task of holding local bodies elections in all the other districts of the province as soon as possible so that the basic problems of the people could be solved at the local level,” he added. Rejecting the claim of the opposition about the defeat of PTI in the local government election, Faisal Amin Gandapur clarified that the reason for low turnout in the election was that more than one party candidate were contesting the election for one seat.

He said that local body elections were contested on the basis of regional issues, community, families and personal influence so their results did not affect the popularity of any party.

The minister rejected the allegation of rigging by the opposition parties. “If the provincial government had influenced the election, how could the opposition candidates have been successful?” he asked. Referring to the KP government’s keen interest in the early launch of the LG system, Faisal Amin Gandapur said the LG department had completed the most difficult phase of delimitation in the province several months before the election.

He said in the recent local bodies elections like in the past, there have been complaints of slowness in the election process and disappearance of election seals and ballot papers, besides sporadic incidents of fights and skirmishes in polling stations came to light.

The main reason for this, he said, was the old and outdated procedure of holding elections and the only solution was the use of technology in the shape of electronic voting machines under the new legislation of the parliament.