ISLAMABAD: A petition was rejected by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday seeking provincial assembly polls in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to be held at the same time as the General Election 2018.
A five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (r) Sardar Raza Khan announced the decision on the petition. Barrister Farogh Naseem was representing three petitioners in the case and argued that two more months were required to carry out delimitation in FATA to hold elections on provincial assembly seats there.
“If the elections are delayed by two months it would not make any difference,” he added.
The bench then reserved its decision on the plea and announced the verdict shortly afterwards.
The Muttahida Qabail Party filed the petition earlier; the party members have been protesting in Islamabad for the past few weeks regarding the same issue.