LAHORE: The Punjab government has directed all the deputy commissioners to ensure implementation of the code of conduct for the general election issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and take action against the violators without discrimination.

In a meeting with divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners at the Civil Secretariat on Friday, Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman reviewed the arrangements for the general election on Feb 8.

The home secretary and officers concerned attended the meeting while all commissioners and DCs participated through a video link.

The chief secretary said it was the constitutional responsibility of the government officials to assist the ECP in conducting a free, fair and transparent election.

In case of violation of the code of conduct, he directed the DCs that the report on the action must be sent regularly to the central control room in the secretariat.

He said all arrangements for the polls should be completed in advance as per the ECP guidelines and a comprehensive security plan should also be prepared with the help of police and law enforcement agencies.

Provincial Focal Person/Secretary Local Government Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi briefed the meeting that the aerial firing, display of weapons and use of loudspeakers would be banned under Section 144. He said a provincial control room had been established at the home department for monitoring while control rooms had been established in the districts where focal persons had been nominated.

Dr Qazi said the ECP had notified monitoring teams to check the implementation of the code of conduct and instructions had been issued to all DCs to install the CCTV cameras at sensitive polling stations.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2024