PESHAWAR, Aug 10: Civil society organisations have called upon the election commission to take action against illegal agreements reached between candidates in certain areas of the province to keep women away from the local body polls.

“We demand that the election commission should hold an immediate probe into such agreements and declare the results null and void in the areas where women have been barred from contesting polls or casting votes,” said Bushra Gohar of the Alliance of Civil Society Organisations at a news conference here on Wednesday.

She said the government, the election commission and political parties were all responsible for keeping women out of the process through unwritten agreements. Such agreements, she added, were violative of the prescribed rules and warranted a suo motu action to ensure women’s participation in the elections.

Ms Bushra, chief of the Human Resource Management and Development Centre, said the government and the election commission should call off the process in the areas where women were had been banned from it. She said the process should be allowed only after making it sure that women ware allowed to file nomination papers and cast ballots in the elections.

Ms Gohar urged the government to provide strict security in the areas where women were contesting the polls and ensure a safe and conducive atmosphere so that women voters could easily exercise their right to franchise.

Speaking on the occasion, Awami National Party leader Afrasiab Khattak said: “The nazim of the union council Kusnher in the Kohistan district, who has allegedly given his 11-year-old daughter’s hand to his rival candidate to get elected unopposed, should be punished under the PPC and the Child Marriage Restraint Act and for violation of election rules.”

Mr Khattak said a wrong impression had been created that allowing women to contest or cast votes was in contravention of the Pukhtun traditions.

He pointed out that women councillors in the Dir district had no say in the council’s sessions over the past three years and said those councillors stayed in a room during the council session and were allowed to come out after the session. They were never allowed to take part in the proceedings, he said.

Mr Aimal Khan of the Aurat Foundation was of the view that the Muttahida Majlis-a-Amal being in power in the province had the responsibility to take measures aimed at ensuring women participation in the polls.