Democratic Alliance demands polls for mayors, deputy mayors
By Our Staff Correspondent2014-03-01
QUETTA: The All Parties Democratic Alliance has urged the authorities to complete the process of local government (LG) polls by holding the elections for reserved seats and for mayors and deputy mayors of municipal corporations and chairmen of district councils.
Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, the leaders of the alliance said that even after three months of the LG polls, the Election Commission of Pakistan had yet to announce the schedule for the elec-tions for reserved seats and for mayors of municipal corporations and chairmen of district councils.
They claimed that some political parties were busy in buying the loyalties of councillors to grab the top positions in local bodies. `Delaying tactics are being used to facilitate `horse trading`, they alleged and said the alliance would not allow such efforts to succeed.
Concerns expressed by them before the LG polls turned out to be true, they said and added that despite reservations they accepted the election results for the sake of democracy.
`Now we will not allow the govern-ment to indulge in rigging the polls for posts of mayors and chairmen, they said. `If our demands are not met, we will resort to protest and may also move court.
They alleged that the provincial election commissioner was loyal to the government and called for his transfer. Those who spoke at the press conference included Abdul Rasheed Nasir of the Awami National Party, Wahid Agha of the Jamiat Ulema-iIslam-Ideological, Nazar Baloch of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Ghulam Nabi of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal and Kamal Barozai of the PML-N.