The Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja said the commission has ensured registration of all eligible voters in their respective constituencies as per law and registered all other eligible voters not listed in the constituencies.

“The step of the Election Commission of Pakistan has significantly increased the number of voters from 112 million to 115 million,” said Raja on Monday while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad at the ECP Secretariat on National Voters Day observed to educate people about democratic process and ensure commitment of the ECP for free, fair and transparent elections in the country.

In 2017, the country had passed a historic reforms legislation, the Election Act 2017, which limits the variation in constituency sizes according to number of voters to a maximum of 10 per cent, in line with international good practice. Before General Elections 2018, the delimitation of constituencies conducted across the country as per provisional results of 2017 consensus to achieve the target.

The ECP chief revealed that the commission has formulated a strategic plan 2019-2023 to achieve its goals while the commission was also working for the elimination of gender disparities in electoral rolls for which work was nearing completion.

The chief election commissioner reiterated that the main purpose to celebrate the day was “to educate people about democratic process”.

“The ECP is an independent and constitutional body and committed to providing equal opportunities to candidates so that people can participate in democratic process,” said Raja, adding the commission was taking several key steps to make elections free and fair.

He said conducting local body elections in a timely manner was one of the key responsibilities of the commission and preparations for such elections have been completed.

“ECP is in contact with National Command and Operation Centre regarding local bodies polls in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic,” he said, adding steps were being taken for voter education and new technology was being used in the electoral process.

He added ECP launched a pilot project in 21 districts in July to find out reasons of gender gap in voter lists which was nearing completion.

The chief election commissioner apprised the audience ECP has introduced an online complaint management system under which all complaints related to office bearer of the commission would be regularly monitored and the commission would ensure immediate relief for the complainants.

On the occasion, Raja inaugurated ECP’s tele-helpline 051-8848888 linked to the call centre service of the commission through which complainants could talk to ECP representatives.

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ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja said on Thursday that the most serious challenge at hand was the gender gap on voters’ list and this was due to low registration of women’s NICs.

The Election Commission of Pakistan, he noted, was committed to holding free, fair and inclusive elections, which was not possible without the participation of women. He explained that in line with the Constitution; the Election Act 2017 had several provisions in the law that guaranteed women’s rights as candidates and voters. To bridge this gap between male and female voters, the ECP had taken several initiatives.

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According to an official of ECP, voters can also get help from the district election offices phone numbers or the ECP helpline, besides its website.

He said that the voters can download Form-21 (registration or transfer of vote), Form-22 (objections or omission of vote) or Form-23 (correction in details) and submit with the respective offices of Form Registration Officers and Assistant Registration Officers.

He said that the updated voter lists have been displayed at the offices of district election commissioners and registration officers for general public. The commission has also updated its SMS service 8300 to assist the public, he added.

He said that ECP’s tele-helpline service is also functional at ECP headquarters to provide uninterrupted information to general public round the clock.

This helpline service with having latest digital telephonic system will assist the public while disseminating information in easy and simple way for easy understanding of people both in English and Urdu language, he added.

He said that citizens can get any information while calling ECP helpline 051-8848888 and with this they can get response from tele-computerized system.

He said that the ECP while believing on use of latest technology would continue playing its role to educate public through its awareness drives.

He added that under ECP’s third five-year strategic plan 2019-23, this tele-helpline service is an effective source of information for a large number of mobile and telephone users across the country.

He said that the chief election commissioner has directed to link the ECP’s call centre service with this system so that general public can have direct access to ECP’s representatives through telephone call.

The CEC also directed to make necessary arrangements for early inauguration of ECP’s online complaint management system for general public, which was started on experimental basis from September 9 this year, he added.

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In the revised voters lists of 2017-2018, the names of over 800,000 deceased voters were omitted, the ECP said in a statement. In the revised voter lists of 2019-2020, the names of more than 750,000 deceased voters were omitted, the statement added.

The ECP said it has directed the LG authorities to provide the data of the deceased voters to ECP on quarterly basis in accordance with Section 43 of Elections Act 2017, so that they can be omitted from the voter lists.

Section 43 reads, “Information regarding deaths.-On the direction of the Commission, the person in charge of any register of births and deaths in a local government or other authority shall submit relevant information regarding deceased persons from that register on prescribed form to the Registration Officer concerned on quarterly basis, who shall make necessary corrections in the electoral rolls accordingly.”

On October 2, 2020, the ECP issued the final voter lists containing 115,748,753 registered voters including 64,078,616 male, 51,667,599 female, and 2,538 transgenders, showing an increase of 97,93,344 voters compared to 105,955,409 voters registered for 2018 general elections.

The male voters comprise 55 per cent of total voters registered in Pakistan, while the female voters comprise 45 percent, and transgenders 0.002 per cent, according to the voters’ data issued by the ECP.

There are 66,236,144 registered voters in Punjab including 36,371,326 male voters (55 per cent of total voters in Punjab), 29,862,932 female voters (45 per cent), and 1,886 transgender voters in Punjab (0.003 per cent), the data showed.

In Sindh, there are 24,351,681 voters including 13,443,983 male voters (55 per cent of total registered voters in Sindh), 10,907,267 female voters (45 per cent), and 431 transgenders (0.002 per cent), the ECP data showed.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, there are 19,533,964 registered voters including 11,076,630 male voters (57 per cent of total registered voters in KP), 8,457,201 female voters (43 per cent), and 133 transgender voters (0.001 per cent), according to the data.

In Balochistan, there are 4,801,131 registered voters including 2,753,946 male voters (57 per cent of total registered voters in Balochistan), 2,047,104 female voters (43 per cent) and 81 transgender voters (0.002 per cent).

In Islamabad, there are 825,833 total registered voters including 432,731 male voters (52 per cent of total registered voters in Islamabad), 393,095 female voters, 48 per cent, and seven transgender voters (0.001 per cent).

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ISLAMABAD   –  The Punjab government has once again requested the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to delay publication of the initial delimitation of constituencies.

It is the third time the Punjab government has requested to postpone the publication of the initial delimitation of the constituencies in Punjab in order to avoid any legal complications.

According to a reliable source in ECP, the commission will examine the letter of the Punjab government in which they had asked for delaying the publications of the initial delimitation and would make the final decision in this regard.

The sources within ECP told The Nation that the Punjab government in the letter had stated that the cabinet committee would examine the names of village neighbourhood and keep the recommendations in front of the Punjab Assembly cabinet.

The ECP in its various statements has said that they have done all the homework and are fully prepared and ready for the publication of preliminary list of delimitated constituencies in Punjab; however the ECP twice delayed the publications after the Punjab government requested ECP to delay the publication.

Meanwhile, a senior official of ECP told The Nation that the Punjab government was using delaying tactics to hold the Local Government elections in the province. The official said that the ECP on August 18, 2020 had delayed the publications of the delimitations from August 21 to September 18, 2020 and they were once again asking the commission to further delay the date, official added.

It is important to mention here that the Chief Election Commissioner Raja Sikandar Sultan has repeatedly asked the provinces to play their part in paving the way for LG elections as they had already missed the due date of the elections.

The commission in this regard has held many important meetings to convince the provinces for holding the LG elections with no further delay as it was the need of the time and a constitutional duty of the commission.

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Resource Management Information (HRMI) System to improve governance. In this regard, a meeting was held at Civil Secretariat here on Tuesday which was chaired by Secretary Local Government Ahmed Javed Qazi. In the meeting, it was stated that after the introduction of this system in the department, the attendance and work of every employee in the office would be monitored. Various aspects of HRMI System were discussed in the meeting. The secretary said that the HRMI System would improve decision making and efficiency in departmental affairs. He said that the data of all the employees of the department had been computerised and soon the system will be introduced in the province with the help of Punjab Information Technology Board. He said that after Baldiaonline app, HRMI system would also help the department to adapt to the modern requirements of digitisation with the main objective of making the department more useful and efficient for the public.

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The ECP counsel, Umer Lakhani, filed a statement on behalf of special secretary ECP Zafar Iqbal Hussain and submitted that the term of local government councils expired on August 30 and under Section 219 (4) of the election Act and Section 21 (3) of the Sindh Local Government Act 2013, it is the mandate of ECP to conduct local government elections within a period of 120 days after expiry of their term.

He submitted that the ECP was fully committed to conducting the local government elections following provision of notifications regarding number of seats/constituencies of the local government and requisite map, any situation beyond the control of ECP or any court order or legal hindrance.

The petitioner also produced a notification issued by the Sindh local government board showing that all offices of the elected mayors, deputy mayor, chairman, vice chairman, representatives of metropolitan committees, union committees and union councils in Sindh shall cease to exist from August 31.

The ECP counsel submitted that 120 days period for holding of elections is provided under the Section 219 of the Election Act, which starts from August 31. The SHC division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar after taking the ECP secretary on record, directed the ECP to conduct the local bodies election in Sindh within 120 days, in accordance with the law.

The petitioner, Syed Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi, submitted that the Article 140-A of the Constitution makes it incumbent to hold local bodies elections in the provinces but the provincial government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were not taking steps to hold them.

He said the notifications to announce the elected representatives of the current local bodies were issued by the ECP on December 3 2015, December 26 2015, and January 1 2016, and according to those, the entire local bodies had completed their tenure and the elected representatives were now illegally holding their offices. He claimed that government was using delaying tactics for holding of local bodies election to usurp the Rs.78 billion funds of the Karachi.

Naqvi submitted that the provincial government was delaying the local bodies elections by not issuing a letter to the ECP. The high court was requested to direct the ECP to hold local bodies elections as per its mandate under the constitution.

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Speaking at a webinar, ‘Addressing Urban Chaos: The Case for Integrated Governance,’ organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) on Monday, Dr Bengali said that currently, the Constitution only featured chapters on federal and provincial governments, while LG was mentioned more as a footnote.

“The local government system has become a football between and within governments, [fighting] for control of power and patronage,” he observed. “But a chapter in the Constitution, outlining the structure, powers and functions of LG, is a workable solution,” he added.

“For Sindh, at least four cities’ metropolitan authorities should be established with an integrated management system and should be autonomous concerning the intra-city affairs,” he suggested. “Besides one for Karachi, the other three metropolitan authorities can be for Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad and Sukkur.”

Talking about his integrated governance model, he called for creating two parallel tracks, which may be called Civil Administration (CA) – responsible to the provincial government and administered through commissioners, deputy commissioners and others – and Local Administration (LA), which would be responsible to elected Councils.

Dr Bengali was of the view that Karachi suffered due to divided political ownership as on one hand, the city was the capital of the province, but on the other, there was a politico-ethnic divide that had hampered its development.

“The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is the dominant political power in Sindh, but it has a small vote bank in Karachi, therefore, the PPP, which is in control of the provincial government, does not have the political incentives to devolve power in the city,” he explained.

Expressing regret over the suffering of Karachiites in the recent rains, he added that the physical infrastructure in all the province’s cities and towns was in a sorry state.

“Half of Karachi presents an 11th-century look,” he reiterated. “But Larkana is the prime embarrassment. Mohenjo Daro, lying close by it, was managing its water and sewerage much better 5,000 years ago.” According to him, the reason for broken civic services in Sindh’s urban areas was the fragmentation of service providing bodies, constitutional deficiency and political divides, which were leading to lack of investment, planning and managerial attention. “Adding to the chaos are the cantonments and Defence Housing Authority (DHAs) in Karachi, which are supra-federal institutions that are a law unto themselves,” he said.

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ISLAMABAD, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 8th Sep, 2020 ) :An important meeting of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) with regard to third Strategic Plan 2019-2023 was held under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja on Tuesday at the ECP Secretariat.

Heads of different wings of the ECP briefed the Election Commission on the progress on the implementation of third Strategic Plan -2019-2023 of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The meeting was informed that the third Strategic Plan of ECP intends to enable compliance, in letter and spirit, of the Election Act, 2017, facilitate the participation of stakeholders in electoral processes, to deliver inclusive elections that people trust, help staff and offices across the organization to develop a common understating of where the ECP currently stands, a shared vision of where it plans to be over the next five years and what strategies it will employ to attain its strategic goals within the given timelines.

It was apprised that the strategic plan would assist the ECP leadership to monitor progress against set targets and adopt timely measures to address any hurdles that may be impeding or delaying progress, facilitate the ECP in assessing resource needs, rationalize and prioritize resource allocation for greater efficiency and identify and prioritize entry-points for assistance and support from international development partners.

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Neighborhood councils in cities, urban areas and village panchayat councils would be established in rural areas. The local government department has started delimitations for neighborhood councils and village panchayat councils, officials said. This was disclosed at a high level meeting held here at circuit house on Monday. Briefing the participants Multan LG Director Imtiaz Kitchi said the ECP has constituted delimitation committees headed by DEC and the delimitation process would start from July 27 on a regular basis. Initial lists of delimitations would make public on August 21. The objections against delimitations would receive from August 22 to September 6 and decision on objections will be made until October 5. The final lists of delimitations would be released on October 13, Imtiaz Kitchi said. The Multan district consists of one metropolitan corporation, two municipal committees, six town committees and three tehsil councils. Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Amir Khatak said numbers of 455 Mozas are part of the district including 275 Mozas in Multan tehsil Sadar, Shujabad 107 and Jalalpur Pirwala 73 Mozas. Each neighborhood council and village council would consist of 15,000 and 20,000 population, respectively. The numbers of general, minority and women seats would depend upon size of population. The neighborhood and village council chairpersons would be elected through direct and non party elections. Punjab Minister Energy Dr Akhtar Malik, MNA Ahmed Hassan Dehr, Mian Tariq Abdullah, barrister Wasim Khan Badozai and others also spoke on the occasion.

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Even though the local government system in the province was dissolved two years ago, the provincial government has yet to decide when it will next hold local body polls.

The Punjab government has yet to start the delimitation process under the new local government system it had rolled out last year.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court (SC) is expected to start hearing petitions filed against the early dissolution of the local bodies in Punjab from August 4.

In the application, the petitioners have sought permission from the court to allow them to work until February 2022, the stipulated period for their elected terms before the previous local government system was scrapped mid-term. They further maintain that elections under the new LG system should take place after their constitutional term ends. The local bodies’ elections, on a political basis, were organised for the first time in the history of the province in 2015.

The tenure for the local governments was to be completed on December 31, 2021. However, on May 4, 2019, the government dissolved the local bodies before the completion of their tenure.

Following this, the Punjab government promised to conduct fresh elections within a year and handed over the affairs of the local bodies to the district administrators.

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He was addressing a workshop for initiating a pilot project with the aim to reduce difference between the number of male and female voters in electoral lists.He informed that across the country there was “a difference of 12.7 million” between male and female voters in current electoral lists.

He said that reduction of the gender gap was not only the responsibility of the Election Commission but of other institutions as well. ” NADRA and civil society should also play their role in this regard”, he added.

PEC Punjab said that the project had been initiated with the aim to know the reasons of the gender gap and ensure enrollment of all eligible voters, especially women.

The pilot project would be completed by August 31 and six districts were selected for the purpose in Punjab.

He said that the role of all registration officers, assistant registration officers and related institutions was very important for the project.

On the occasion,Additional director general gender affairs Nighat Siddique highlighted the significance of the workshop and said that district election commissioners would supervise the project work in their respective districts. “They would provide training to assistant registration officers and other staffers besides ensuring supply of necessary material”, she added.

The provincial election commissioner gave certificates to all the participants at conclusion of the ceremony. District election commissioners and provincial Election Commission officers attended the workshop.

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The pandemic has been overshadowing the fate of the LG polls since the onset of the year. From March till date, when the lockdown came into effect, coronavirus has clinched first place on the top priority list. The rest of the things, all macro and micro responsibilities have taken a back seat. The virus’s devastation is so sudden and widespread that it did not let the government keep its focus intact and compelled the democratic system to compromise on the local government elections.

Funds that were supposed to be spent on various development schemes have been diverted to fight COVID-19 and its catastrophic implications. As per experts, SARS-CoV-2 has eroded more than 50 percent of government funds dedicated to multiple public service works. Meanwhile, most of the 2020-21 budget allocations have also pivoted on neutralising coronavirus.

The polls were supposed to be held in June 2020. They have now been deferred till the end of 2020. However, a specific deadline has not been given.

On April 30, 2019, the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab passed two pieces of legislation: the Punjab Local Government Act 2019 (PLGA-19) and the Punjab Village Panchayats and Neighbourhood Councils Act 2019 (VP&NCA-19). Both pieces of legislation entered into force with their notification in the Punjab Gazette on May 4, 2019. On the same day, existing local governments constituted under the PLGA-13 were dissolved by Government Notification No. SOR(LG)38-34/2018 and replaced by administrators from the civil administration. Both acts envisage a transition period of up to 12 months between the previous and the new system, and local elections were likely to be held in mid-2020. However, it proved to be a pie in the sky.

The failure of the government to hold local bodies’ elections is in violation of the Elections Act, 2017, according to which fresh elections should be conducted within 120 days after dissolution of the last setup.

Section 219 (4) of the Elections Act, 2017 states that the Commission (Election Commission of Pakistan) shall hold elections for the local governments within 120 days of the expiry of the term of the local governments of a province, cantonment and Islamabad capital territory.

It is also a violation of Article 140-A of the Constitution that stated “each province shall, by law, establish a local government system and devolve political, administrative and financial responsibility and authority to the elected representatives of the local governments.

Local governments have a substantial impact on people’s lives. Most residents are aware that their local government is responsible for local services from parks and gardens to waste management and recycling, from building approvals to libraries, from childcare to public health, from parking to economic development, from aged care to roads maintenance, and much more.

Local governments not only provide these services but are responsible for identifying and pursuing the many other distinct needs of their community, and for ensuring that state and Commonwealth policies affecting their communities make proper allowance for their local needs.

It is encouraging that Prime Minister Imran Khan has shown his keen interest in holding the Punjab LG polls as soon as possible. After he directed CM Punjab Usman Buzdar to do the needful in line with direction of the Election Commission of Pakistan, the local government department has submitted the all required documents to ECP.

The Punjab government has framed rules for delimitations of constituencies for neighbourhood councils and Village Punchayats under the Local Government Act, 2019.

Authorities believe that a major obstacle in the way of holding local government elections this year has been removed after enactment of these rules.

According to the new rules, the Election Commission will constitute district delimitation authorities in all districts of the province comprising civil servants and members from the Election Commission and the judiciary.

The judicial officers will be inducted in the authorities in consultation with the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court. The district authorities will supervise the whole process of delimitations in accordance with the set rules. The rules regarding delimitations have been sent to the Election Commission to proceed further on the subject matter.

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For the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), that brings the number to Rs 46bn, out of which only Rs 3bn were released. The KP finance minister has defended this decision by pointing out that the tenure of local government councils has expired, and elections delayed till April 2021. Perhaps it is important to point out here that despite several reminders by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the provincial governments including that of KP failed to cooperate with the ECP and complete preparations for holding timely LG elections. As per the law, they were supposed to have taken place within 120 days of the expiry of tenure of previous LG. Yet again, power that should reside in the hands of peoples’ elected representatives, has been returned to bureaucrats, who are to exercise it directly with the blessing of Peshawar.

Despite excellent examples to learn from across the world, the Pakistani political elite refuses to relinquish control and devolve power to local level. The colonial mindset of ruling through the bureaucracy continues to prevail. The courts should not have to intervene each time to make politicians fulfil their constitutional duties. The sorry state of affairs brought on by decades of poor governance and political expediency should finally prompt change without which the system is bound to underperform and even fail. The billions in funds that will either remain unspent or be spent by bureaucrats are critical for the impoverished masses of the province. Someone should be held accountable for this grave injustice.

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The District Election Commission has completed preparations for conducting fresh delimitations for 15 local bodies in the Rawalpindi district.

Officials at the District Election Commission Office in Rawalpindi on Monday said that they may start the new delimitation process this week. They further said that the committees which will carry out the delimitation exercise have been formed.

They added that a final list for the delimitated local body seats will be released on October 13.

In this regard, they said that the Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner’s Office has provided them with maps – including revenue circles, and other records of all local bodies of the district.

The local bodies in Punjab were dissolved two-and-a-half years ahead of their constitutional terms while district officials were handed the responsibility of administrators in the new system of neighbourhood and village councils.

Subsequently, the DC office had facilitated the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by providing them with a list of all the old union councils in the district and other details including demarcation of revenue circles and population statistics. The ECP will now start delimitation for the new system of the metropolitan corporation, seven tehsil councils, six municipal committees and a town committee.

The defunct Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation had 46 union councils. But now, 24 councils from the rural areas will be added in the new district council, increasing the number of seats to 70.

However, this means that Rawalpindi has become smaller while Gujjar Khan has become the largest tehsil council in the district.

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