KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan directed the local administration on Monday to immediately remove all billboards used by any political party for its campaign for the Dec 5 local government elections in Karachi.

In the code of conduct for the LG election, the ECP banned use of all sizes of hoardings by any candidate or political party contesting the LG elections. They can use banners and posters of a specified size for their election campaign.

According to Clause 11 of the ECP’s code of conduct, the maximum size of a poster and banner would be 3x2 ft and 9x3 ft, respectively.

The district returning officers and local administration are responsible for the implementation of the code of conduct.

However, almost every major political party — including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Jamaat-i-Islami — have displayed large hoardings at various places in the metropolis to muster support for their candidates.

Sources told Dawn that the ECP took notice of the billboards and large posters and banners displayed at various vintage points in the metropolis in violation of its code of conduct.

Although no name of any candidate was mentioned on the billboard screens, the ECP directed the administration to initiate action against those candidates in whose constituency the hoardings of their party was displayed.

The ECP said that the action could be the immediate removal of the hoardings. However, if the hoardings were not removed, the candidate could be disqualified from the contest.

The sources said that the local administration advised all political parties to strictly abide by the code of conduct and remove all such hoardings or posters displayed beyond the approved size as mentioned in the code of conduct.

Parties accuse each other of code violation

When contacted, senior PPP leader Senator Taj Haider said that he himself had drawn the attention of the ECP towards what he called the blatant violation of its code of conduct by the MQM, JI and PTI.

He said that he filed written complaints with the ECP regarding use of billboards by the three parties in violation of Clause 11 of the code of conduct.

When his attention was drawn towards huge billboards installed by the PPP in some areas, Mr Haider said that only one billboard was placed in Federal B Area in Central district in response to the display of dozens of hoardings by the MQM, PTI and JI. “Except this, all our posters and banners are of the specific size as mentioned in the code of conduct.”

He said that the PPP would remove the hoarding voluntarily if the ECP could ensure compliance of its code of conduct by other political parties.

The JI and PTI accused the MQM for violating the ECP code of conduct first by putting up large billboards in the city.

JI spokesman Zahid Askari said that his party had drawn the attention of the ECP towards violation of the code of conduct by the MQM, but it failed to take any action against the party.

He said that the JI asked the administration to ensure implementation on the code of conduct; otherwise “our colleagues would also be compelled to put up large posters and hoardings”.

He said: “We waited for two days but as none of the hoarding were removed, our colleagues too put up a few large hoardings at different places.”

PTI leader MNA Arif Alvi said that the ECP had showed weakness in the first and second phase of the LG elections as it failed to take notice of the violation of the election rules and code of conduct by the ruling party and the government.

“In the case of Karachi, the MQM and the PPP are the first to violate the code of conduct. Even now if the ECP ensures compliance of the code of conduct by removing all hoardings and beyond the approved size of the posters and the banners, the PTI is prepared to follow the law,” he added.

MQM spokesman Aminul Haq told Dawn that the MQM was bound to follow the ECP’s code of conduct, but it wanted equal treatment by the authorities.

“If other parties and stakeholders remove their hoardings or large banners and posters, then we will definitely review ours,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2015