Not possible to hold polls in 3 months: Pak EC

April 05, 2022 11:15

Pakistan's election commission has expressed its inability to hold general elections within three months due to legal, constitutional and logistical challenges, according to a media report on Tuesday.

Pakistan's embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan stunned the Opposition on Sunday by recommending snap elections within three months, minutes after a no-confidence motion against him was dismissed by the deputy speaker of the National Assembly.

Khan then got Pakistan President Arif Alvi to dissolve the 342-member National Assembly.

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing on the deputy speaker's decision to reject the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Khan, who had lost majority in the lower house of Parliament.

According to the Dawn newspaper, a senior official of the Election Commission said due to fresh delimitation of constituencies, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the number of seats was increased under the 26th Amendment, and bringing district-and constituency-wise electoral rolls in conformity were the major challenges, the preparations for the general elections would require some six months.

Delimitation is a time-consuming exercise where the law provides for one month's time just to invite objections, the report said quoting the official. The official said procurement of election material, arrangement for ballot papers and appointment and training of polling staff were among the other inherent challenges.

He said that under the law, ballot papers with watermark were to be used which were not available in the country and hence they would have to be imported, and revealed that the top election body had proposed to amend the law to provide for ballot papers with security features', instead of water mark', the report said.

The official said inviting bids and scrutinising financial and technical quotations would also require some time.

About the election material, he said some two million stamp pads would be required for around 100,000 polling stations.

Referring to the legal hurdles, the official said that under Section 14 of the Elections Act, the Election Commission was poised to announce an election plan four months prior to the polls. -- PTI

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Protect our CPEC workers from terror attacks, China tells Pak

Pakistan's deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is in China on a four-day visit, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi co-chaired the fifth round of the foreign minister-level China-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue.

Let's not talk about the throw, it was not up to it: Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra won again, but not in the manner he would have liked to, and he had no qualms in admitting it.

Southwest Monsoon to reach Kerala on May 31 amid El Nino concerns

"This year, the Southwest Monsoon is likely to set over Kerala on May 31 with a model error of four days," the India meteorological department said on Wednesday.

In Pictures - Clinical Punjab Kings hand Rajasthan Royals fourth loss on the trot

Despite a well-tuned 48 from local hero Riyan Parag, Rajasthan Royals struggled against an array of accurate bowlers on a rather slow pitch, meandering to a sub-par 144 for nine against Punjab Kings in their IPL match in Guwahati on...

T20 creates the perfect form of cricket: Usain Bolt

It comes as no surprise when the world's fastest man Usain Bolt says that the fastest form of cricket is his favourite one and feels more fans in the Caribbean and world over will choose the T20 format over Tests going forward.