The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has resumed the training of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) across the country following the announcement of the election schedule.
According to the commission’s spokesperson, 850 ROs and 144 DROs are currently under training by senior ECP officers. The training is expected to be completed by December 19. In the federal capital, a letter has been sent by DC Islamabad, in his capacity as a DRO, to the Federal Directorate of Education instructing that no staff be allowed to go on leave.
Authorities have also been asked not to grant leaves to government employees, with maternity and medical leaves exempted from the order. Concerned staff responsible for supervising electoral activities has been ordered to remain in the city where they have been posted till the February 8 polls. The Lahore High Court (LHC) on December 13, at the request of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), invalidated ECP’s notification of the appointment of the ROs and DROs for elections from the bureaucracy of Punjab. The LHC’s order immediately halted the training of election staff across the country.
However, the Supreme Court suspended the LHC’s order, allowing the ECP to continue the training of ROs, DROs and assistant returning officers (AROs). The ECP on Friday issued the election schedule for the 2024 general elections. Meanwhile, the ECP is scheduled to resume the hearing of the plea filed by PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar against intra-party elections today (Monday). The commission revealed the cause list for the PTI intra-party case, setting the hearing for December 18. A five-member ECP bench will examine objections and issues raised against PTI’s intra-party elections with key applicants such as Akbar S. Babar, Raja Tahir Nawaz, and Naureen Farooq. Barrister Ali Zafar, representing PTI, is expected to present the concluding arguments before the bench.
The ECP has summoned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Gohar Ali Khan and several other party members, including Chief Election Commissioner Niazullah Niazi, Umar Ayub, Haleem Adil Sheikh, Yasmin Rashid, Ali Amin Gandapur, and RO Central Secretariat Sardar Masroof, in the intra-party election case. The notice highlighted that the PTI intra-party elections did not seem to align with the party’s constitution, Rules 2020, and the Election Act 2017. It emphasized that the ECP issues a certificate only when all the legal prerequisites for conducting intra-party elections under the Election Rules 2017 are met.