Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday dismissed three petitions seeking delay in the General Election 2018.

The chief election commissioner had earlier in the day reserved the verdict on the petitions. However, shortly after he dismissed the petitions.

During the hearing, Kamran Murtaza, the counsel for the petitioners, said, “We do not want delay in elections but want elections to be held across the country on the same day.”

“The reason for elections to be held country-wide on the same day is to ensure that nobody is neglected and that elections are not influenced by the ruling party as seen in the by-elections,” the counsel added.

Murtaza added, “It is a constitutional right of the people of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to vote for their candidates.”

To this, the chief election commissioner remarked,

“There was fresh delimitation of constituencies in FATA.”

After hearing the arguments, the ECP dismissed all three petitions calling for delay in the general elections.

Published in Daily Times, June 26^th 2018.