ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has forwarded a summary regarding the forthcoming elections to President Mamnoon Hussain, proposing that the polls should be held between July 25th and 27th.
The commission has requested the president to settle a date under Section 57(1) of the Elections Action 2017.
The tenure of the current government will expire on May 31. The process to select a caretaker setup is underway with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi holding talks with Leader of Opposition Khursheed Shah.
Meanwhile, the ECP has reviewed preparations for the general elections. It directed provincial chief secretaries to ensure security of returning officers and polling staff. While district returning officers (DROs) and returning officers (ROs) have been appointed mostly from the lower judiciary, the assistant returning officers (AROs) were selected from civil bureaucracy – mainly the district administration group officers.
As per the polling scheme announced by the ECP, as many as 86,436 polling stations will be set up for the elections, including 48,667 in Punjab and 18,647 in Sindh.
In FATA and KP, 14,655 polling stations will be established and 4,467 in Balochistan.