Elections in tribal districts will be held on July 2: ECP

Tariq Butt

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that elections for tribal district seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly will be held on July 2. In pursuance of the provisions of Section 57 of the Elections Act 2017 read with Section 102 and clause (4) of Article 224 of the Constitution, the ECP called for polls in 16 constituencies in the tribal districts allocated to KP as a result of the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) through the 31st Constitutional Amendment.

The seats include PK-100 to PK102 for Bajaur, PK-103 and PK-104 to Mohmand, PK-105 to PK-107 for Khyber, PK-108 and PK-109 to Kurram, PK-110 for Orakzai, PK-111 and PK-112 to North Waziristan, PK-113 and PK-114 for South Waziristan and PK-115 for Ex-Frontier Regions (FR).

The dates outlined by the ECP direct the returning officer to issue a public notice on May 7 while candidates will submit nomination papers from May 9 to May 11. The names of nominated candidates will be issued on May 12 and the scrutiny will begin on the same day and end on May 18.

The candidates will have until May 22 to file appeals against the RO’s decisions while the Appellate Tribunal will have until May 27 to decide appeals.

The last date for withdrawal of candidacy and publication of a revised list of candidates is May 29. On May 30, the contesting candidates will be allotted symbols.

Another ECP notification prevented government and relevant authority from issuing posting or transferring “any officer in the districts where the schedule for the election has been issued till the publication of names of returned candidates.”

It also barred government functionary or elected representative including a local government functionary from announcing development scheme for the constituencies where the election is under process till July 2.



Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jehangir Tareen said he is not interviewing any to find a replacement of incumbent Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

Tareen, who is the former secretary general of the PTI, said he only held meetings with Punjab legislators to discuss various issues, but nobody was being interviewed for the slot of chief minister. He ruled out any major change in the Punjab setup in the coming days.

It is noteworthy that PTI leader Ejaz Chaudhry has claimed that Tareen was interviewing candidates for the Punjab chief minister slot.

Already, over the issue of governance and inability to address public issues, the Buzdar government been under severe criticism from within and outside the PTI. Prime Minister Imran Khan himself has expressed anger on different occasions on the Punjab leadership over the public complaints.

Besides, after a cabinet reshuffle in the centre, reports of change in Punjab have started doing the rounds and some of the ministers in the cabinet of Buzdar have been warned by the top party leadership to improve their performance and respond to the complaints of irregularities in their ministries.

Besides, the loose grip of Buzdar over the bureaucracy is another reason behind criticism on him from his party. Punjab Food Minister Samiullah Chaudhry last month expressed anger against “snake in the grass” acting against the government.

Imran has claimed that for the next five years, Buzdar would remain the chief minister of Punjab. Tareen, who is considered the second most powerful man in the PTI after Imran, has also expressed similar views. However, the rest of the party is predicting a different situation.

Separately, Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the decision on how to run Pakistan can’t be left to a Maulana, as most of the Ulema were against its creation.

He said the journey ahead for Pakistan will be decided by the youth and technology will take the country forward.

In Twitter posts, he said a new committee of experts has been established which would determine moon sighting for key dates and months in the Islamic calendar for the next 10 years.

The five-member committee will comprise science and technology experts from SUPARCO (Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission) and Met Office, he said.

The committee will prepare an Islamic calendar of important dates and months for the next 10 years, including Ramadan, Eid, and Muharram, which will put an end to the moon-sighting controversies that arise every year, the minister added.