PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, and several other lawmakers were fined by the election officers of Peshawar and Bannu on Friday for violating the code of conduct for the upcoming Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local body elections.
A fine of Rs50,000 each was imposed on Bilawal, Murad, MNA’s Khursheed Shah and Qadir Patel, and minister Saeed Ghani and Nisar Ahmed Khuhro for holding and addressing a rally in Peshawar last month.
In Bannu, KP transport minister Malik Shah Mohammad Khan Wazir, PPP MPA Sher Azam Khan Wazir, JUI-F MNA Zahid Khan Durrani, PPP MPA Sher Azam Khan Wazir, and PTI MPA Malik Pakhtun Yar Khan were fined for attending election campaigns held by candidates in their districts.
The district monitoring officer of Bannu has also issued notice to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Opposition Leader Mohammad Akram Khan Durrani for violating the LG election code of conduct. He has been summoned at 11am on Saturday.
If the leaders fail to pay the imposed fine, the matter will be referred to the Election Commission of Pakistan under Section 234(4) of the Election Act, 2017.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, after the issuance of the election schedule, the president, prime minister, governor, speaker, deputy speaker of any assembly, chairpersons and advisors to the prime minister or chief minister, or any other holder of public office shall not visit the area of any local council to announce any development scheme or to canvas or campaign for any political party or campaign for any candidate where elections are being held.
KP local government elections 2021
Local government elections are set to be held in Peshawar on December 19.
The first phase of the elections will kick off on December 19 for two tiers of the local bodies. Polls in the rest of the 18 districts will be held on January 16, 2022.
This year, a total of 19,282 candidates are contesting for the seats of general councilors at 2,359 VCNCs. Of these, 3,905 are women.
Over 7,000 candidates are running for peasant/worker seats, 290 for the youth, and 282 for the minorities. Meanwhile, 689 candidates are contesting for the seats of mayor or chairman of 63 tehsil councils of the province’s 17 districts.
On December 19, elections will be held in Buner, Bajaur, Swabi, Peshawar, Nowshera, Kohat, Karak, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Tank, Haripur, Khyber, Mohmand, Charsadda, Mardan, Hangu and Lakki Marwat.
