EC issues seven-point directive to government

The Election Commission has issued seven-point directives to the government at all three levels to help conduct the election of members of the House of Representatives and the Provincial Assembly on November 20 in a healthy, free, fair, reliable, fearless and efficient manner.

The seven-point instructions were forwarded to the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers to communicate it to the central government, provincial government and the relevant bodies at the local level.

 In the directives, the EC has called for the easy access of the transport during the election, especially making it regular and reliable to the office of the Chief Returning Officer at the district headquarters and the place where the office of the Returning Officer is located. In addition, the roads and other physical infrastructure leading to the designated polling places and polling centers should be maintained in good condition.

      Similarly, in the advertisement and informational materials published and broadcast from the public welfare advertising program run under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the informative materials produced and sent by the Election Commission should be received and published and broadcast through all print and electronic media.

      Government, community and private hospitals, nursing homes and other health institutions should be arranged to operate safely, and the ambulances operating in the district should be kept in good condition and the fire engines in the district should be kept in working condition so that they can be used immediately if needed during the elections.

The security and communications apparatus needs to be kept updated and stand by. The Commission has also instructed to make arrangements to take departmental action against any civil servants and security personnel who abuse their authority or take any action to affect the fairness of the election.