Category: Media Coverage

Rawalpindi :National Voters Day was celebrated by the Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday throughout the country, says a press release. In Rawalpindi, a seminar on National Voters Day was held by the with Regional Election Commissioner, District Election Commissioners, Rawalpindi in the District Council Hall, which was attended by the people from various walks of like life, including District Administration, Rawalpindi, heads of lines departments i.e. education, social welfare, cantonment boards, local government, business community, youth and students, civil society organisations advocating rights of women, persons with disability, minorities and transgender. Speakers highlighted importance and stressed on voters education to use the right to vote effectively and wisely, which would cause strengthening of democratic process in the country. Amongst prominent speakers were, Aziz Bahadar, district election commissioner-I, Muhammad Saleem…

ISLAMABAD: Retired Justice Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi, a member of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from Punjab, on Friday took the oath as acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). The oath was administered by ECP member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) retired Justice Irshad Qaiser under Article 217 of the Constitution, a day after Sardar Muhammad Raza retired as CEC after completing his five-year term in office. Interestingly, after the retirement of the CEC, the ECP is left with only two members — both have been unconstitutionally appointed. Article 207 (2) of the Constitution reads: “A person who has held office as judge of the Supreme Court or of a high court shall not hold any office of profit in the service of Pakistan, not being a judicial or quasi judicial office…

ISLAMABAD: The Elec­tion Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday unvei­led the third five-year strategic plan setting specific targets to meet the challenge of conducting one of the largest single-day elections in the world and bridge gaps in the legal framework governing elections. The plan unveiled by Chief Election Commis­sioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza has set targets for improving electoral laws for national and local elections as its first strategic goal. Under the goal, the ECP plans to review the Elections Act 2017 and propose amendments to improve it. The ECP also plans to further improve the Election Rules 2017 and Codes of Conduct for political parties, candidates, election agents, polling agents, observers, media, security agencies, polling staff and other stakeholders. Simi­larly, the commission will continue to provide technical assistance…

QUETTA: Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) president Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti, who is a grandson of the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, on Sunday won the NA-259 seat in re-polling. According to official results, Shahzain Bugti obtained 20,895 votes in 29 polling stations, while Mian Khan Bugti got 2,954 votes and Mir Tariq Mehmood Khetiran received only 198 votes. In the 2018 general elections, Shahzain Bugti was elected to the National Assembly on a ticket of his own faction of the JWP. He had obtained 22,787 votes, while Mir Tariq Mehmood Khetiran received 21,213 votes. After taking the oath, Shahzain Bugti supported Imran Khan in his election as prime minister. Mr Khetiran, a close relative of Nawab Akbar Bugti, had challenged Shahzain Bugti’s election, levelling allegation of rigging. He requested the Election…

QUETTA: Re-polling in 29 polling stations for the National Assembly seat NA-259 will be held on Sunday. The Supreme Court had ordered re-election after Mir Tariq Mehmood Khetran, who was declared runner-up in the 2018 general elections, had challenged the result. Shahzain Bugti of the Jamhoori Watan Party was the winner. The constituency is comprised of Dera Bugti, Kohlu, Sibbi and Barkhan districts of Balochistan. The Election Commission of Pakistan has set up 115 booths at 29 polling stations. Of them, 18 polling stations were declared as very sensitive. There are a total of 31 candidates in the run. The number of registered voters is 47,269 — 27,899 women and 19,370 men. Personnel of police, Frontier Cops, Balochistan Constabulary and Levies have been deployed at the polling stations to ensure…

DADU: Unofficial results from the PS-86 by-election put PPP candidate in the lead while the PTI came in at number two,. According to unofficial results from 102 polling stations out of a total of 158, the PPP's Syed Saleh Shah led by securing 30,046 votes. The PTI's Imdad Ali Khan Laghari got 13,875 votes. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of PPP MPA Ghulam Shah Jillani a few months ago. In order to deal with any untoward situation, 1100 Pakistan Army and Rangers personnel and 1100 Sindh Police officials were deployed. Pakistan Army and Rangers officials were deployed both inside and outside polling stations. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had criticised the deployment of armed forces personnel during the by-elections. The PPP had written a letter as well…

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday suspended the presidential order of ‘controversial’ appointment of two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), as the Senate chairman and the National Assembly speaker could not resolve the issue in three weeks after the court referred the matter to parliament. On Aug 22, President Arif Alvi had appointed Khalid Mehmood Siddiqui from Sindh and Munir Ahmed Kakar from Balochistan to fill the positions that fell vacant after the departure of Abdul Ghaffar Soomro and retired Justice Shakeel Baloch from the respective provinces. However, the ECP chairman refused to administer the oath to them on the ground that the appointments were made without fulfilling the constitutional requirements. Two members of the Parliamentary Committee on Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Members…

ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser will shortly meet to discuss ways and means to resolve the issue of the stalled process of appointment of Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) members from Sindh and Balochistan. They were supposed to meet on Monday (yesterday) under a proposal made by Mr Sanjrani, but it could not happen due to the sudden death of Mr Qaiser’s uncle. The meeting had been proposed by Mr Sanjrani in a letter he wrote to Qaiser on Oct 17, along with a copy of a recent judgement of the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The IHC last week said that parliament should play its role to break the deadlock over the appointment of two new ECP members and decide the matter in the…

LARKANA: Grand Dem­o­cratic Alliance’s (GDA) candidate Moazzam Ali Abb­asi won the by-election held for the Sindh Assembly’s constituency PS-11 (Larkana-II) on Thursday, according to unofficial results. While Mr Abbasi bagged 31,557 votes, his rival Jamil Soomro of the Pakistan Peoples Party could get 26,021 votes, according to the unofficial results received from all the 138 polling stations that were set up for the by-election. Polling was held in a peaceful environment and no untoward incident was reported anywhere in the constituency. Special security measures were put in place, including deployment of Rangers and the army in the constituency, in addition to the police. Polling began at 8am and continued till 5pm without break. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced the re-election after the Supreme Court unseated Mr Abbasi,…

Voters headed to the polls for the PS-11 Larkana by-elections on Thursday while a detailed report was submitted to the deputy inspector general (DIG) for Larkana regarding PPP leaders' visits to the polling stations. Polling ended at 5pm and the counting of votes is now underway. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced by-elections in the PS-11 Larkana-II constituency after the de-seating of MPA Moazzam Abbasi of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) by the Supreme Court in August. During the voting process today, PPP politicians MNA Khursheed Junejo, Burhan Chandio and Sohail Anwar Siyal visited polling stations — which the district returning officer (DRO) said was in violation of rules. The DRO submitted a detailed order to the DIG regarding their visits. Additionally, the ECP monitoring team reported their…