By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election watchdog has announced that the polls in the politically significant Punjab province will be held on May 14, as directed by the Supreme Court.
The court had quashed the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to extend the polls date from April 10 to October 8, fixing May 14 as the new date for elections to the Punjab Assembly.
The revised schedule was issued in response to a petition filed by the PTI against the ECP’s decision to delay the Punjab Assembly elections from the originally decided date of April 30 to October 8.
According to the revised schedule, the election tribunal will decide on the appeals by April 17, and the last date for publishing the new list of candidates will be April 18.
The last date for withdrawal of nomination papers will be April 19, and election symbols will be allotted to the candidates on April 20.
This development comes after the Pakistan Supreme Court declared the ECP’s earlier decision to postpone elections in Punjab as “unconstitutional”. The coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had been trying to delay the election citing security issues and the economic crisis.
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