Just eight days before the country goes into polls, the Election Commission of Pakistan has called a meeting today (February 1) to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
In a notification, the electoral watchdog said the meeting would be attended by the interior minister, interior secretary, chief secretaries of Balochistan and KP, provincial police chiefs and officials of intelligence agencies. The development comes hours after a PTI-affiliated candidate was shot dead in KP’s Bajaur. According to the police, Rehan Zeb Khan was canvassing in the area when unidentified armed men opened fire on his vehicle.
Meanwhile The Election Commission of Pakistan took cognizance on Wednesday of the logistical bottleneck of reprinting ballot papers in some constituencies, which could potentially lead to the postponement of elections in those constituencies.
According to the ECP, “In constituencies where the reprinting of ballot papers is deemed necessary, the sequencing of the printing process will be determined after the completion of ballot papers’ printing in other constituencies across the country.”
However, this decision is subject to certain conditions, as the ECP specifies, “It is contingent upon the availability of special security paper and capacity of printing presses to reprint ballot papers. In the event that the required amount of special security paper is unavailable, the ECP will have no alternative but to postpone elections in those constituencies.”
