RAWALPINDI: The Election Commission of Pakistan will display voters list in cantonment areas from Friday (today) to allow people to review the list and have their votes registered.

These lists will be displayed at 61 government schools in the cantonment areas of Rawalpindi.

The Rawalpindi Cantonment has been bifurcated into two cantonments-Rawalpindi and Chaklala. Each cantonment will be divided into 10 wards.

District Election Commissioner Nadeem Zubair, on Thursday, held a meeting with Station Commander Brigadier Zahid Ahmed Rana, Rawalpindi and Chaklala Cantonment Executive Officers Fahim Zafar Khan and Rana Khalil Ahmed at the Station Headquarters.   

Mr Zubair shared the voter list with the participants of the meeting and it was decided that the lists will be displayed at government schools. March 20 was decided as the last day for voter registration, after which the voter lists would be finalised.

March 20 last day for residents to get votes registered

However, the schedule for local government polls in cantonment areas is yet to be finalised.

“The schedule will be announced after the completion of the voters’ list in cantonment areas,” District Election Commissioner Nadeem Zubair told Dawn, after the meeting.

He said that the election would be held on a non-party basis as per existing law and the polling schedule would be announced after the commission receives the notification on the Cantonment Ordinance Amendment 2015.

RCB Cantonment Executive Officer Fahim Zafar Khan told Dawn that the cantonment executive officers would serve as the returning officers for the elections in cantonment areas.

He said that the Rawalpindi cantonment was already divided into 10 wards and the Chaklala Cantonment has also been divided into 10 wards.

He said that more than 400 polling stations would be established in the coming days.

However, District Election Commissioner Nadeem Zubair said that the election commission had not finalised the decision to appoint the cantonment executive officers as returning officers.

He said that the decision would be made after the announcement of the schedule for polling, which would take time.

He said deletion and addition to the voters list would be made first, followed by other decisions.

Meanwhile, political parties also began preparations for local government polls in Cantonment areas with the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Rawalpindi holding a meeting to mobilise local workers.

However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) was considering challenging non-party elections in court.

“PTI Punjab has formed a legal committee to challenge non-party elections in the cantonment areas in the courts,” PTI Punjab North Secretary General Zahid Kazmi told Dawn.

Mr Kazmi said party workers want to be nominated on party basis for the local government elections in the cantonment areas as well. “The government wants to conceal its failure by having polls on a non-party basis but the PTI will not allow this”.

He said more than 150 workers applied for party tickets for the cantonment area in Rawalpindi alone. “Local government elections in both cities and cantonments would be a referendum against the government,” he said.

Published in Dawn March 13th, 2015

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