ECP moves court over appointment of DROs, ROs

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has moved court over the appointment of Returning Officers (ROs) and Deputy Returning Officers (DROs), ARY News reported citing sources.

According to sources, ECP wrote letters to registrar High Courts for the appointments of Returning Officers (ROs) and Deputy Returning Officers (DROs).

Sources said that the ECP urged the judiciary to provide a list of judicial officers for the DROs and ROs candidates to hold transparent elections.

Earlier, the judiciary had declined refused to provide a list of judicial officers to ECP. The commission has already shortlisted the officers from the bureaucracy for the appointment of DROs and ROs.

Last week, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided to conduct strict scrutiny of the returning officers (ROs).

The ECP continued its preparations for the general elections and expanded the scope of scrutiny of the ROs and sought informal reports from the concerned institutions and officers. The commission completed the compilation of lists of the ROs for the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies.

The scrutiny process of the ROs for the National Assembly (NA), Sindh, and Balochistan assemblies is underway. The commission will depute the ROs for completing the scrutiny process which could delay the deputations, sources said.