PESHAWAR: Provincial Election Commissioner Shamshad Khan here on Monday administered oath to the district returning officers for conducting second phase of by-elections on 16 seats of the National Assembly.

According to schedule announced earlier, polling in the second phase of by-elections would be held on Mar 19, said a statement issued by the provincial office of the ECP.

Official of the ECP Jahanzaib Khan took oath as DRO for NA-5, Mohammad Iqbal for NA-6 and NA-7, Aslam Khan for NA-9, Aziz Bahadar for NA-16, Saeed Ahmed Khan for NA-28 and NA-30, Ajmal Hafeez for NA-40, Faridullah for NA-2 and NA-3, Raheem Zada for NA-19 and Shahid Ali for NA-44.

As per schedule for the second phase of by-elections, the returning officers will release public notice on Feb 8 while the candidates will submit their nomination papers with the respective returning officers from Feb 10 to 14.

The returning officers will display the names of the candidates on Feb 15 and they will complete scrutiny of the candidate till Feb 18.

Appeals against the rejection or acceptance of nomination papers can be filed with the appellate tribunal till Feb 22, to be decided by Feb 27.

The ECP will display the revised list of the candidate by Feb 28. The candidates can withdraw their nomination paper by Mar 1 while the final lists of the candidates will be displayed on Mar 2 along with the election symbols. Polling will take place on Mar 19.

It is worth mentioning here that the first phase of by-polls are scheduled to be held on Mar 16 on eight seats of the National Assembly.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2023