Decision on by-polls in flood-hit areas today

ISLAMABAD: After receiving requests from local administrations of a number of flood-affected districts for postponement of the by-polls slated for Aug 22, the Election Commission has invited representatives of the government and the opposition to a meeting on Monday in order to arrive at a consensus on the matter.

An ECP official told Dawn on Sunday that the commission had already sent invitations to the Director General of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, Arif Mahmood, and the Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Maj Gen Muhammad Saeed, to seek their advice on the situation and probable new dates for the polling.

The official said that initially the meeting had been convened by acting Chief Election Commissioner Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani to review “security arrangements” for the by-elections to be held on Aug 22 in 42 constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies, but now the issue of delaying the polling in flood-hit areas had also been included in the agenda.

He said the date would be changed only in the constituencies where polling would not be possible on Aug 22 because of floods. He said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had been nominated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to attend the meeting. Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khurshid Ahmed Shah was expected to personally attend the meeting, he added.

The official said the provincial election commissions had been constantly monitoring the situation in flood-hit areas and there were reports that by-elections might not be possible in a number of constituencies in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan.

But, he said, the ECP had so far received only one written request from the Jhal Magsi administration in Balochistan seeking postponement of the by-polls in a provincial assembly constituency (PB-32) because of displacement of a large number of people in the area due to floods. He said the meeting to be attended among others by the four chief secretaries and defence secretary would give final touches to the arrangements in the constituencies not affected by floods. The defence secretary is likely to brief the meeting on the deployment of troops at polling stations while senior representatives of the NDMA and Met Office will share the latest flood situation and weather forecast for the constituencies where elections are to be held. In all 536 candidates are in the run for 42 national and provincial assembly seats, including 216 for 16 NA seats. A total of 180 candidates will contest elections for 15 provincial assembly seats in Punjab, 82 for four seats in Sindh, 32 for three seats in Balochistan and 27 for four seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Most of the seats have been vacated by the winners of more than one seat.

Of the 7,622 polling stations to be set up for the by-elections, 3,644 have been declared ‘sensitive’ and 1,657 ‘highly sensitive’.

APP adds: Provincial Election Commissioner Syed Sultan Bayzeed said on Sunday that all arrangements had been finalised for by-polls in one NA and three provincial assembly constituencies in Balochistan.

“However, we have option to postpone by-elections in PB-32 (Jhal Magsi) to three to four weeks after the Provincial Election Commission has received reports from the district administration that 14 of the 51 polling stations are still under water after torrential monsoon rains and flood,” he said, adding that some candidates had also requested for postponing the by-election in Jhal Magsi till the situation improved there.

Mr Bayzeed said 223 polling stations in the province had been declared ‘sensitive’ and 128 ‘very sensitive’ and personnel of the army, Frontier Corps, Balochistan Constabulary and Levies Force would be deployed there.

He said 819 polling officials from Quetta would be sent to Qila Abdullah after some candidates had objected to the local staff.

He said 11 candidates were contesting for NA-262 Qila Abdullah, 14 for PB-32 Jhal Magsi, 12 for PB-29 Nasirabad-111 and three for PB-44 Lasbela-1. He said tight security arrangements would be made in and around the polling stations for the safety of polling staff and voters.