The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued directions for the freezing of all development funds of the local governments.
The electoral watchdog said on Tuesday the LG’s funds would not be utilized for any development scheme till the election on February 8.
The directions, it stated in a notification, were issued to ensure free and fair elections as per laws. It warned that the commission would take action if any government institution or cantonment board violated the directions.
The ECP stated that the schemes which were approved before the issuance of the election schedule do not fall under the latest directions.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, Punjab ECP spokesperson said that on the strict instructions of Provincial Election Commissioner Punjab Ijaz Anwar Chohan, District Monitoring Officers and Monitoring teams in Punjab province took immediate action in accordance with the law to ensure the implementation of the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The District Monitoring Officer, Sahiwal issued orders to a contesting candidate Majid Hussain, from constituency NA-143 Sahiwal to pay a fine of Rs50,000 in penalty for violating the election campaigning Code of Conduct. The candidate organized a car rally, corner meetings and procession without prior permission from the district administration. District Monitoring Officer Sahiwal issued a warning to the candidate to be careful in future. The monitoring teams in Punjab province removed plastic penaflexes and oversized banners, hoardings, billboards and other advertising materials from various districts of Punjab province. Notices are being issued to the election candidates by the relevant district monitoring officers against violations of the code of conduct in Multan, Vehari and Rahim Yar Khan. The Provincial Election Commissioner Punjab commented that under Section 234(4) of the Elections Act, 2017, the case of repeated violation of the Code of Conduct will be sent to the Election Commission for further action.
