Daily Times

“Political parties and candidates in Karachi are following the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)” said ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob on Tuesday.

ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob visited different parts of the city on Tuesday. During his visit, he was briefed by Sindh government officials. After visiting different parts of city, the ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob expressed his satisfaction over the implementation of ECP’s code of conduct in the city. Commending Karachi, he said that ECP’s code of conduct was mostly being followed by political parties and independent candidates in the metropolis.

Babar Yaqoob said that monitoring by Sindh caretaker government in this respect could be considered far better other than in other provinces of the country. The ECP secretary added that administrations of other provinces had remained reluctant in stopping the aspiring candidates from using oversize panaflax and posters. He said that the authorities elsewhere had also been hesitant at stopping candidates from using public places and civic installation sites as sites for displaying their election material.

ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob also asked the relevant officials of Karachi’s civil administration to remain alert till the polling day.

Karachi Commissioner Saleh Ahmad Farooqui told the ECP Secretary that several political parties and independent candidates had been warned and even issued show cause notices for violating election code of conduct. He informed Babar Yaqoob that district monitoring teams had been asked to keep vigilant eye on election code violations without any prejudice.

Published in Daily Times, July 18^th 2018.