ECP postpones polling in tribal districts of KP

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the postponement of polling on the 16 seats of the tribal districts, recently merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa (KP), on Wednesday.

ECP spokesperson told local news channel that the polling was postponed on the request of PTI led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

Earlier, the KP government had requested the country’s supreme electoral body to adjourn the polling in the tribal districts to ensure law and order situation as the area was under cross border attacks from Afghanistan.

The decision to postpone the polling was taken out in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Justice retired Sardar Raza Khan in Islamabad.

“Polling in the erstwhile FATA will be held on July 20”, the spokesperson said.

It may be noted that Earlier the polling was scheduled to take place on July 2.

The election commission had in April notified district returning officers (DROs), returning officers (ROs) and assistant returning officers (AROs) for general elections in the tribal districts.

Over 2.5 million voters will exercise universal suffrage to elect their representatives for the provincial legislature. There are at least 1.03 million registered women voters in the seven merged districts.