In a surprise development, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday announced the postponement of the upcoming elections in Punjab — initially scheduled to be held on April 30 — citing security reasons as the major cause behind their change in plan.

In light of the Supreme Court’s split ruling last month, President Arif Alvi announced the date for the Punjab polls after consulting the ECP.

Citing its responsibility towards ensuring fair elections in the country, the election organising authority in its notification recounted its various endeavours in trying to ensure that the commission carried out its responsibilities diligently.

The notification said that in order to organise and conduct the election in accordance with the law in a peaceful manner, the commission had written letters to the ministry of interior and defence for the “deployment of Pakistan Army/Rangers and Frontier Corps at all the polling stations” established for the conduct of general election to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in static mode.

This was done in view of the heightened security situation in the province and the recent terrorist wave in the country, it added.

However, Punjab Chief Secretary and Inspector General (IG) informed the stakeholders in a meeting of the serious law and order situation, quoting various incidents in the province and the country.

For deputation on election duty, there is a shortfall of approximately 386,623 security personnel, the notification said, which can only be covered by deploying army soldiers and Rangers in static mode.

More to follow…