PESHAWAR/CHARSADDA: The candidates intending to take part in the re-polling for local governments have demanded of Election Commission of Pakistan to change its date from July 5 as they will not be able to run campaign in the holy month of Ramazan.

They threatened to boycott the process of re-polling if their demand about change in its schedule was not met.

Addressing a joint press conference here on Sunday, the candidates belonging to different political parties said that ECP fixed July 5, 2015 for re-polling but people would not like to participate in the process during Ramzan so the turnout would remain very low.

“We will move Peshawar High Court and also launch a protest movement if ECP does not pay attention to our appeal,” said PPP leader Salman Orakzai, Shah Hussain and PML-N’s Nazeer Khan and other candidates.

“We belong to union council 30, Bala Manrhi where our voters are not ready to launch campaign for us. The voters will also not come out of their homes in this scorching heat and Ramzan,” they said. They added that voters and candidates also faced great hardships during May 30 local government elections and that’s why they would not like to face the problems again.

Vow to challenge poll schedule in court, launch protest

Referring to the death of people due to heat stroke in Karachi, the candidates said that the temperature in Peshawar also ran high and the entire responsibility would rest with ECP in case of any tragedy if the re-polling was not rescheduled.

Besides, the candidates said, it was incompetence of ECP that it could not ensure transparency in the May 30 local government elections and thousands of voters, especially women, could not use their right of adult franchise.

Criticising the provincial government, they said that proper security arrangements had not been made on the May 30 as the influential candidates adopted all possible methods to rig the polls.

The candidates urged ECP to re-schedule the re-polling in all the union councils in Peshawar. They said that re-polling should be held under the supervision of judiciary and army so that no one could dare to rig the polls. “We have still doubts that if proper arrangements are not made for security of the candidate and voters, the situation on May 30 will be repeated in different areas of the province,” they added.

The candidates said that there would be more chances of clashes among the candidates if the polls were held in Ramzan. In case of losses of life the responsibility would rest with the government and ECP, they added.

“We appeal to the ECP to re-consider the schedule and announce another date for the re-polling so that maximum people can take part in the process,” the candidates said.

Meanwhile in Charsadda, the four-party alliance said that it would submit an application to the Election Commission of Pakistan urging it to conduct re-polling on some polling stations in the district after Eidul Fitr.

The ECP on the recommendation of district returning officer had announced re-polling in some polling stations of 16 union councils on July 5.

The decision was taken at a meeting of PTI, QWP, JI and JUI-F local leaders here on Sunday. JUI’s Maulana Mohammad Hashim Khan and Haji Abdur Rehamn, QWP’s Arshad Umarzai, PTI’s Fazal Mohammad Khan, Arif Ahmadzai, JI’s Misbahullah, Javed Khan and others were in attendance. They expressed reservations over the holding of re-poling during Ramazan.

The meeting decided to submit a joint application to the chief election commissioner proposing to postpone the re-polling till after Ediul Fitr.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2015

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