ECP to approach Supreme Court to defer LB Polls in Sindh, Punjab

Appointing presiding officers and other polling staff in a huge number and then training them was a big exercise, he said.

“It still cannot be said on the evidence before the commission that on an overall basis the elections were not a true and fair reflection of the mandate given by the electorate”, the commission concluded while pointing out “some lapses” by the ECP. With regard to irregularities in general elections, he expressed the resolve to introduce electoral reforms in the light of the Judicial Inquiry Commission’s report.

National Assembly Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs has recommended that Local Bodies Elections may be postponed in Punjab and Sindh on September 26, 2015 due to floods caused by a profound climate change.

Islamabad-Director General of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Mr Sher Afgan on Friday admitted mistakes/irregularities on part of the commission in conducting general elections of May 2013, but he dismissed allegation of organized rigging.

DG ECP said that the report clearly informed the ECP about all the lacks which need improvement ahead of the 2018 elections and gave all the guidelines to make electoral reforms.

Earlier, the South Carolina on Thursday had accepted ECP’s plea for hearing regarding holding phase-wise local body (LB) elections in Punjab and Sindh.

Sources noted the provincial governments were of the view that holding of elections in phases would lead to better arrangement of the polls and avoid mismanagement witnessed in the polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The ECP had earlier prepared a plan to hold the polls in the two provinces in phases, but the Supreme Court had rejected the plan and directed the commission to conduct the elections on a single day (Sept 20).