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PESHAWAR, (MANEND NEWS): The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP has served notice on Chief Minister Mahmood Khan for addressing a public meeting in Shangla in violation of the code of conduct as arrangements were finalized for the second phase of Local Government (LG) elections in 18 districts of the province on March 31.
An official said the district monitoring officer (DMO) of Shangla served the notice on the chief minister through his secretary to appear before his office on March 30 and explain his position. The ECP in the notice mentioned that no public office holder shall address any public meeting as it was a violation of the code of conduct for the elections.
The chief minister has already been fined by the DMOs on a couple of occasions for addressing public meetings. The ECP on Monday also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on the candidate of the Awami National Party for the slot of chairperson tehsil council in Chitral, Khadija Bibi.
A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Abdul Rehman was also fined Rs 50,000 while the ruling party candidate for tehsil council in Kolai Palas in Kohistan, Mohammad Iqbal, was fined Rs 40,000 for violation of the code of conduct.
A couple of other candidates and politicians were served notices for violating the code of conduct for the polls. Over 1,040 complaints of violation of the code of conduct was reported to the ECP during the second phase of the polls.
The commission imposed a fine of over 500,000 on several political leaders and candidates and took other actions after complaints of violation of the code of conduct. Meanwhile, the provincial government and the ECP finalized the arrangements for the LG polls.
A meeting was held that was attended by the ECP Secretary Umar Hamid Khan, Chief Secretary Shahzad Bangash and Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari, FC Commandant Salahuddin and other heads of relevant departments.
The meeting was told that a total of 6,176 polling stations will be set up in the second phase of the LG elections in 18 districts of the province slated for March 31. Out of these 2,326 polling stations have been declared sensitive while 1,646 most sensitive.
Closed-circuit television cameras will be installed and more security will be provided at most sensitive polling stations. The meeting was informed that adequate security, as well as other arrangements, had been made for the polls where 8.057 million voters would cast vote.