Last phase of local polls today: Tight security nationwide
By Nasir Iqbal
ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: The final phase of local government polls gets under way on Thursday with the indirect election of district, tehsil/town nazims and peasants, women and minority representatives on respective reserved seats all over the country.
A total of 426 candidates are in the run for the office of city district/zila nazim in 108 districts instead of 109 and 1,449 candidates are contesting as tehsil/town nazims in 388 tehsils/towns instead of 389 in the third phase of local government elections.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court stayed the elections for the seats of district nazim in Kharan (Balochistan) and tehsil nazim in Jhang (Punjab).
While generally security arrangements have been tightened, in some areas extra personnel have been called out. This includes some parts of Punjab and Balochistan where Rangers and FC have been assigned the task of assisting civilian administration in case of need.
The first two phases of local government elections were held on Aug 18 and 25, respectively.
On Thursday, the polling will be held between 8am to 4pm (eight hours) without any break while the election agents, polling agents and voters will not be allowed to carry or use mobile phones inside the polling stations.
Despite repeated warnings to heads of all political parties not to participate or sponsor election campaigns of candidates, almost all political parties have fielded candidates under different groups.
According to a spokesman for the Election Commission of Pakistan, the ban imposed by the acting chief election commissioner (CEC) in the previous two phases on the entry of federal as well as the provincial ministers, ministers of state, advisers, chairmen standing committees, senators, members of national or provincial assemblies to the polling stations is still valid during the third phase.
Election Commission secretary Kanwar Dilshad has announced that under Rule 30(1) of the Local Government Elections Rules, every voter will have to show his national identity card to the presiding officer, who will then issue ballot papers after satisfying himself about the voter’s identity.
Acting Chief Election Commissioner Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar has allowed voters to cast their votes on production of either the computerized national identity card (CNIC) or the old identity cards. The presiding officers have also been directed to entertain only original identity cards and should decline to accept the photocopy of the identity cards at the time of voting.
The acting CEC has explained that the possession of special identity cards, issued to the winning councillors and union council nazims by the concerned assistant election commissioners, were not mandatory to show at the time of casting of votes for elections in the third phase.
Out of 426 contestants for district nazims, 134 are in the field from the Punjab, 87 from Sindh, 93 from NWFP and 112 from Balochistan.
Likewise for 389 tehsil towns, 557 candidates are fighting from the Punjab, 381 from Sindh, 259 from NWFP and 252 from Balochistan.
For city district, 4,026 women are in the run for a total of 2,027 reserved seats for women, while 2,320 peasants/workers are contesting for 310 reserved seats for them whereas 849 candidates from the minority communities are participating for 310 reserved seats.
In the tehsil/town councils, 4,768 candidates are in the run for 2,027 reserved seats for women, 3,258 candidates for 450 reserved seats for peasants/workers and 1,252 candidates for 450 reserved seats for minority communities.
