Election Commission of Pakistan resumed training of returning officers

Following the announcement of the election schedule the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has resumed the training of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) across the country.

The ECP has only seven (7) weeks remaining until the polls, while at least 859 ROs and 144 DROs are currently undergoing training led by senior ECP officers.The training is expected to be completed by December 19.

Read Also : ECP issued schedule for Feb 8 general elections

Earlier On December 14, Lahore High Court suspended ECP’s decision to appoint the ROs and DROs from the executive branch in relation to a plea filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawyer Umair Niazi.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) therefore, issued notices and sought replies from the ECP and other respondents till next hearing and referred the petition to the Chief Justice for its disposal by some larger bench.

On December 15, the Supreme Court (SC) had suspended the Lahore High Court (LHC) order staying the appointment of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) from the bureaucracy.

In its six-page written order unveiled on Saturday, the SC noted that the LHC “with a stroke of pen” stopped a total of 2,753 DROs, ROs, and AROs from performing their duties “thereby derailing the process of elections”.