ISLAMABAD: Following the shooting death of an election candidate inside the boundaries of the National Assembly’s NA-8 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s PK-22 seats, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided to postpone the elections on Wednesday.
The security of the nationwide poll is at risk due to an increase in grenade and gun attacks, particularly in KP and Balochistan, where candidates and election rallies have been targeted. This has impacted electioneering efforts and prompted fears for the safety of over 128 million voters and contestants.
Rehan Zeb Khan, an independent candidate running from NA-8 and PK-22, was shot and killed in KP’s Bajaur district earlier in the day while visiting the tribal district’s Sadiqabad Phatak Bazar area in connection with the election campaign.
Politicians have expressed worries about the state of security, and some have called for a postponement of the already-postponed elections. Major political parties strongly opposed the non-binding resolution that the Senate had passed to postpone the elections.
Additionally, a number of political parties’ election rallies, including those of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), PTI, National Party (NP), and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), have been targeted.
Due to the passing of Asmatullah Khattak, an election candidate, on Tuesday (yesterday), the polling process in PK-91 Kohat-II was also postponed. In this context, returning officer (RO) Irfan Ullah released a public notice.
Recalling that the state of law and order had deteriorated just one week before national elections, the election commission called a crucial meeting for this coming Wednesday.
To address the effects of a recent wave of violent occurrences in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan on the upcoming general elections, which are set for February 8, the top electoral authority called a crucial meeting for tomorrow at 3 p.m.
Inspector generals (IGs), chief secretaries of the aforementioned provinces, the interior minister, the secretary of interior, and representatives of intelligence agencies will all be present at the upcoming session, according to a formal announcement.
