After a long wait, the process of transferring the right to authority to the basic level has started in Pakistan. The elections of local government were held in the seventeen districts of KPK on Sunday.
The provincial government of KP must be praised for taking this step at its earliest as LG polls are the only way to benefit the masses directly. This is the only electoral post where a common voter has the edge to directly question the person about his performance whom he voted.
The bad thing about the KP Local Government polls was the irregularities and complaints which surfaced during the elections. Several people were killed and injured after clashes erupted between supporters of different political parties at several polling stations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In Peshawar’s Tehsil, Shah Alam clashes erupted outside the woman polling station after supporters of a political party tried to enter the station. Police have also arrested a man from a ladies polling station in the Pishtakhara area.
In Khyber, shots were fired and furniture of the polling station was damaged, while a scuffle also erupted between polling agents in Charsadda.
The polls in Tehsil Baka Khel of Bannu were postponed following complaints of rigging. The Election Commission of Pakistan has taken notice of the incident and called a meeting later today to discuss the matter of abduction of polling staff and snatching of ballot papers.
Similarly in the afternoon, the attack on Federal Minister Shibli Faraz was also another disturbing incident on the occasion. Reportedly, the security guard and driver have sustained injuries in the incident. Luckily, the minister remained unhurt in the incident.
As per details, Shibli Faraz was traveling from Kohat to Peshawar after casting his vote in the local government elections.
On the other hand, the protests are against the new Local Government bill passed by the Sindh government. The anger of the opposition parties is visible in the protests and press conferences of the opposition leaders.
Now to avoid any sort of security situation it is important to deliberate on and make timely arrangements for the local body polls. All the other provinces must also step forward to hold the local body elections on time but they must ‘ensure’ foolproof arrangements for a smooth electoral process to avoid any loss to life and property of the citizens. Because local government polls have the proper to engage common masses that are directly involved in the polls and have direct communication with the person whom they elect. Therefore, it must be made sure that the big political parties must not use their supporters to defaming each other, rather they must sit down to cooperate with the relevant authorities to ensure the smooth transfer of powers to the base.
