PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council on Saturday announced April 22 as new date for holding province-wide polls of all district, tehsil and sub-tehsil bar associations and directed the election boards to resume work from April 13.

The elections were scheduled for March 28 but were postponed due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

A joint meeting of KP Bar Council executive committee and bar association audit and anti-corruption committee was held here with executive committee chairman Shahid Riaz Burki in the chair.

The meeting was also attended by vice chairman Shahid Raza Malik, chairman of bar association election, audit and anti-corruption committee Shah Faisal Utmankhel, Maulan Shamsul Haq, Mohammad Sareer Khan, Ahmad Farooq Khattak and Shahid Qayum Khattak, whereas other members were taken onboard telephonically.

As the provincial government has notified that the lockdown will continue till April 11, therefore, the meeting decided to hold polls of district tehsil and sub-tehsil bar associations on April 22. However, the decision will be subject to any further decision regarding lockdown by the competent authorities.

The election commissions were directed to follow the government policy regarding social distancing and safety.

The meeting also decided to extend the tenure of previous cabinets of the bar associations for a period of two weeks.

It decided to extend the tenure of the current setups of high court bar associations till May 2. They were also directed to send three names each for the chairman of election boards till May 2.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2020