PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Abbottabad bench asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to postpone the Local Government (LG) elections in the remaining 18 districts of the province which were scheduled for March 27.
Thus, the court has annulled the schedule for local government election in five districts of the Hazara division. The scheduled was issued January 20 by the election commission of Pakistan for the 27 March election.
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According to the court decision, the second round of local body elections in the province is likely to be affected by the snowfall and thus the fair and transparent election will not be possible in such a situation. The court directed the Election Commission to hold elections in hilly areas after Ramazan.
The court had issued the judgment on two identical writ petitions submitted by residents of Hazara division – Malik Aurangzeb and Muhammad Iqbal. The petitioner argued that the people would be deprived to poll their votes due to snow and inclement weather condition in March. The five districts in which the elections were postponed include Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torrghar, Upper and Lower Kohistan, Kolai Palas, Kohistan, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Chitral, Upper and Lower Karam and Orakzai, North Waziristan and South Waziristan.
On the other hand, after the court judgment, the Election Commission of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also issued a notification to cancel the election and requested the Chief Election Commissioner to schedule the election after Ramadan.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that he would himself grant tickets to the election candidates for the upcoming Local Government (LG) election in the remaining 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He directed Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to provide the list of three shortlisted candidates for each constituency. The PM has asked the party to learn from the past ‘mistakes’ and focus on running an effective election campaign.