Supreme Court orders ECP to decide schedule for KP LG polls’ second phase today

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take a decision by Tuesday (today) on the second phase of local government (LG) elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Initially, the second phase of LG polls in 18 districts of KP was to be held in the last week of January, but it was rescheduled by the ECP through a Dec 30, 2021 order on applications filed by local MNAs and MPAs.

On Jan 20 this year, the ECP issued a notification announcing the holding of the second phase of LG elections in KP on March 27.

But on February 1, the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) Abbottabad bench had, in a verbal order, postponed the elections after accepting petitions of residents of five districts of KP on the grounds that these districts were expected to remain under snow in the last week of March due to heavy snow accumulation and, therefore, it would not be possible to set up polling stations.

During Monday’s hearing, KP Advocate General Shumail Butt opposed the new election schedule, saying the ECP had not consulted the province before issuing the new election date.