ECP to invite foreign media for upcoming general elections in the country

ISLAMABAD, Sep 6 (SABAH): The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday decided to invite foreign media and observers for the general elections.

The electoral watchdog has completed all the preparations in line with inviting the foreign media and prepared the code of conduct for the foreign media. It has been decided to invite the foreign media immediately after the announcement of the election schedule. The foreign media and observers will be given access to visit the polling stations. The observers will also be allowed to see the process of vote counting and the preparation of the election results.

Separately, the Lahore High Court (LHC) could not proceed on an application against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s notification of fresh delimitation of constituencies. The hearing was postponed indefinitely due to the court’s engagements. Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh was to hear the petition of a citizen, Muqsit Saleem. The petitioner had challenged the election commission’s notification of conducting delimitation of constituencies afresh. The application had also requested to conduct elections in 90 days.

The petitioner’s lawyer adopted the stance that after the dissolution of the assembly, general elections were to be held in 90 days. But the election commission has issued a notification for fresh delimitation of constituencies. The lawyer pleaded with the court to declare the notification null and void and order for the election to be held within 90 days.

Earlier, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) asked the electoral watchdog to hold the general elections on time. PPP leader Sherry Rehman said, “The PPP had agreed to hold the elections on the basis of the new census, despite having reservations about the digital census”. However, she said that any delay in the elections will lead to political uncertainty and instability.