A division bench of the apex court headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, while hearing the case on local government elections today, directed Secretary ECP to submit a report in written that either the election body will be able to conduct LG elections in Sindh and Punjab simultaneously by September 10 or not.
Secretary ECP informed the bench that biggest challenge in conducting LB polls in Sindh and Punjab in one go is printing of the ballot papers.
“It will take at least 26 days to print ballot papers because printing corporation owns outdated machines that doesn’t allow rapid printing”, Secretary ECP informed the court.
Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja replied that machines capable of printing millions of ballot papers in a day are available in the market. He asked ECP to resolve the matter with government and to submit written schedule of LB polls in Sindh and Punjab by March 10.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court accepted the schedule of local bodies (LB) elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the cantonment boards.
According to the schedule, LB elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be held on May 30 while in the 43 cantonment boards on April 15.
