Delay in LG polls affecting uplift schemes, transfers of KP bureaucrats
PESHAWAR – Delay in the re-polling of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on certain constituencies and the next phase of the polls in the province has caused a halt to transfers in the provincial bureaucracy as well as development schemes.
It merits a mention here that the provincial government conducted local bodies elections in 17 district in the first phase on December 19, 2021 and also declared that in the next phase on January 16, 2022, the polls would be held in the remaining districts of the province.
Also, the transfers and postings in the bureaucracy have been stopped till the local government elections are finished in the province.
A senior official of Civil Secretariat told The Nation that Election Commission had failed to complete the LG polls as per the schedule.
“On the one hand, all administrative works, uplift schemes and even the transfers and postings have been stopped while on the other the next phase of the polls is under question because there has been no progress on it so far,” he added.
He said that from the first phase, there are many constituencies that are to be subjected to re-polling as there were problems in the first phase.
“The Election Commission could not even arrange re-polling in these constituencies, let alone arranging the next phase of the polls in the remaining districts of the province,” he added.
Another official said that if the LG polls are delayed by several months even development funds might lapse.
He said that the ongoing situation is benefitting those officials, who are serving on key positions and they want to stay there; this is why they want the elections to get prolonged.
“At least the government should remove ban on transfers, postings and development activities in the 17 districts where the polls have already been completed,” he added.
Meanwhile, Fahad Ikram Qazi, Director Transport KP, said that the Election Commission should either lift the ban on transfers and new uplift schemes till next date for the polls is decided and then clamp the ban when the date of elections is near. “Or if it’s any near date for second phase, they need to announce it and explicitly extend the ban, so as to end the confusion,” he added.
Responding to the issue, Election Commission spokesman Sohail Khan said that there were 215 polling stations where re-polling was to be conducted in the wake of the first phase of the polls.
“The volume of work has been high; this is why we are still stuck with the first phase so far. The date for next phase would be announced once we are done with the first phase,” he added.
He said that maybe the snowfall also affected the polling in hilly areas in the next phase.