PESHAWAR: Polling for the second phase of local government elections in 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be held on March 31, according to the revised poll schedule issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday.

The development comes as the Supreme Court suspends the order of the Peshawar High Court’s Abbottabad bench to postpone the second phase of local government (LG) elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Though an order on Feb 1, the high court’s Abbottabad bench had postponed the elections slated to be held on March 27, declaring that five districts of the province are likely to have snowbound conditions in the last week of March.

It had issued directions for the ECP on the matter during the hearing into petitions, which insisted that various districts of the province would be shut in by heavy snow in March, so the voters would struggle to reach polling stations.

ECP issues revised election schedule after SC stay order

Besides the revised schedule, the ECP also issued a code of conduct to ‘ensure that the elections are conducted honestly, justly, fairly in accordance with the law and that the corrupt practices are guarded’.

Elections will be held for the posts of mayor and chairman of tehsil and city councils and different categories of members in the village and neighbourhood councils in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Upper and Lower Kohistan, Kolai-Palas, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower and Upper Dir, Upper and Lower Chitral, Kurram, Orakzai, and North and South Waziristan districts.

The first phase of elections was held in 17 districts on Dec 19, 2021.

In the second phase, elections will be held for 65 posts of the tehsil and city council chairmen and mayors in 18 districts.

According to the schedule, the public notice inviting nomination papers will be issued by the returning officers today (Thursday), while the candidates will submit nomination papers to the respective returning offices from Feb 14 to Feb 18.

The ROs will publish the names of candidates on Feb 19 and the nomination papers will be scrutinised between Feb 21 and Feb 23.

Appeals against the acceptance and rejection of nomination papers can be filed from Feb 24 to Feb 26, whereas the relevant appellate tribunal will decide those appeals until March 1.

The ROs will publish the revised list of candidates on March 2. The last date for the withdrawal of nomination papers by the candidates and publication of the revised lists of candidates is March 3.

The returning officers will allot election symbols to candidates on March 4; the polling will be held on March 31, and the consolidation of election results will take place on April 4.

In the notification, the ECP also issued a code of conduct banning all executive authorities in the federation and provinces from either announcing any development project or using state resources in the elections, which could influence the elections in favour of a particular candidate.

It warned that if any person in government service misused his or her official position for influencing the results of the elections, he or she should be liable to be proceeded under the law.

“Districts in respect of which election schedule of local government elections has been issued, no transfers and postings of government officers and officials, including autonomous bodies, shall be made without prior approval of the commission until the publication of election results,” it said.

The ECP barred the holders of public offices from visiting any constituency for the local government polls, unveiling any development scheme and canvassing for any candidate or political party.

The other public officeholders include the president, the prime minister, the chief minister, the governor, speaker and deputy speaker of any of the assemblies, chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate, federal and provincial ministers, and advisers to the prime minister or chief minister.

The code further said any public officeholder, who was found to have violated any provision of the election laws or the instructions issued by the commission, would be proceeded against under the relevant laws.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2022