ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday issued schedule for local government (LG) polls in Sindh to be held on January 18, 2014.

ECP Director General Syed Sher Afgan told newsmen here that the notice for inviting nomination papers would be issued on December 24.

Nomination papers would be received from December 26 to 29 while objections over them could be submitted on December 31, he added.

According to the schedule, scrutiny of nomination papers would be carried out from January 1 to 5 next year while appeals against acceptance or rejection of papers can be filed from January 6 to 7, which would be disposed off from January 8 to 11.

Candidates can withdraw their candidature on January 12.

Sher Afgan said publication of final list of contesting candidates along with electoral symbols allotted to them, would be displayed on January 13. He said official results of the local government elections would be declared on January 21.

He said some 30 million ballot papers would be printed for Sindh while 300 million for Punjab.

Besides the Printing Corporation of Pakistan and Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC), all other state-owned printing houses would be used to print ballot papers, he added.

The Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) had been instructed to prepare ‘standardised ink’ for the LG polls.

Replying to a question, the DG ECP said a mock trial of the biometric election system would be conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) at four polling stations of Peshawar on December 26.