KARACHI: The office of the Sindh election commissioner on Sunday ordered strict action against mayors, deputy mayors and other elected local government representatives if found participating in the election campaign of any contestant.

In a communiqué, it said the office had received some complaints that mayor, deputy mayors and chairmen/deputy chairmen of different local councils were participating and misusing their official resources in the election campaign of candidates contesting the Feb 8 general elections.

“This is clear violation of Para-18 of the Code of Conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan for the Feb 8 general elections,” it added.

The office asked all district election commissioners and monitoring officers to strictly observe any such violation in their respective jurisdiction and take legal action.

Meanwhile, the office of the provincial election commissioner (PEC) on Sunday released a list of the candidates after securitising the nomination papers of the aspirants for the reserved seats for women and minorities.

It contained the names of 37 and 83 candidates for the National Assembly and provincial assembly seats reserved for the women, respectively.

PEC Sharifullah is the returning officer for the reserved seats for the women and minorities and there are 38 validly nominated candidates for the seats reserved for the minorities, it added.

On Dec 24, the PEC office said that it had received 118 and 309 nomination papers for the NA and Sindh Assembly seats reserved for women, respectively, while 128 forms were filed from the candidates of the minorities.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2024