ECP announces Oct 8 as polling day for Punjab elections

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Friday issued a notification regarding the holding of general elections in Punjab on October 8 next.

According to the notification, the polling day for general elections in Punjab will be October 8, 2023.

The ECP also withdrew the schedule issued earlier for the holding of general elections in Punjab in April 2023.

A couple of days ago, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) postponed the elections in Punjab due to security threats.

The elections initially scheduled to be held on April 30. President Arif Alvi had announced the date for the Punjab polls after consulting the ECP.

The ECP had issued a notification and said that in order to organise and conduct the elections in accordance with the law in a peaceful manner, the commission had written letters to the ministry of interior and defence for the “deployment of Pakistan Army/Rangers and Frontier Corps at all the polling stations” established for the conduct of general election to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in static mode.

The ECP had also said that for deputation on election duty, there was a shortfall of approximately 386,623 security personnel which can only be covered by deploying Army soldiers and Rangers in static mode.

The Ministry of Interior, however, had conveyed to the commission, via a letter, that the deployment of civil and armed forces as required by the election commission would not be possible.