ISLAMABAD: Days after the anno­u­­nc­ement of delimitation schedule for local government polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a massive shake-up in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has redeployed dozens of its officers.

A significant feature of the reshuffle is that all the four provinces will now have at least one woman district election commissioner (DEC) for the first time in the country’s history.

Those transferred and posted include four female officers — one each from the four provinces.

Shaheen Ghazal, the DEC of Multan II, has been transferred and posted as DEC, Rawalpindi II.

Azra Mahesar, currently serving as the DEC, Malir, Karachi, will assume charge as the DEC of Thatta.

Reshuffle in ECP ahead of delimitation for LG polls in Punjab, KP

Safya Akbar, deputy director at the Regional Election Commission, KP, Peshawar, has been posted as the DEC of Charsadda.

Likewise, Aliya Nazar, deputy director at the Provincial Election Commission, Balochistan, Quetta, has been posted as the DEC of Pishin.

In all, as many as 65 officials of the ECP have been transferred under a notification issued on Thursday. They include four from the ECP secretariat in Islamabad, 17 from Punjab, 14 from Sindh, 18 from KP and 12 from Balochistan.

Tanvir Ahmad Khan, private secretary to the ECP secretary, has been appointed as the DEC of Hafizabad.

The Deputy Director (Establis­hment II), Mohammad Saeed, has been transferred to the office of PEC, KP, Peshawar.

He has been replaced by Bilal Akram, a newly promoted assistant director on acting charge.

Abdul Wadood Khan, a newly promoted assistant director at the ECP secretariat, has been appointed as deputy director (confidential).

The Director at PEC, Punjab, Lah­ore, Abdul Hameed, has been posted as the regional election commissioner (REC) of Sahiwal. The sitting REC of Sahiwal, Tahir Mansoor Khan, will assume charge as director at the PEC, Punjab, in Mr Hameed’s place.

In Sindh, the REC of Karachi Ali Asghar Siyal been posted as the REC of Thatta.

Syed Nadeem Haider, currently serving as the REC of Hyderabad, will be new regional election commissioner of Karachi.

Sain Baloch, director at PEC, Sindh, Karachi, will assume charge as the REC of Hyderabad.

Syed Waseem Ahmad Jafari, presently posted as the REC of Thatta, has been transferred and posted as director at the PEC, Sindh.

In Balochistan, Abdullah, currently serving as director at the PEC, has been appointed as the REC of Quetta. Fayyaz Hussain Murad, the incumbent REC of Quetta, will join as director at the PEC, Balochistan.

Rest of the officers have either been posted out of the provincial election commissions to assume charge as district election commissioners or were already serving as DECs and have been posted to some other station.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2020