Election campaign ends midnight

ISLAMABAD: The election campaign by various political parties and independent candidates for the July 25 general elections across the country ended midnight (Monday).
All political parties and independent candidates winded up their election campaign at 12:00 midnight as per the notification of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
According to an ECP official, electronic and print media would also avoid telecasting or publishing advertisements for the purpose of political campaign which tends to malign or favour a particular political party.
He said under Section 182 of the Elections Act, 2017, no person would convene, hold or attend any public meeting and promote or join any procession within the area of the constituency during a period of 48 hours ending at midnight following the conclusion of poll. He said any person, who contravened the provisions of law, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with Rs1 lac fine.
A monitoring and control room headed by Director General Administration has also been established in ECP to address the complaints.
Details of army personnel deployed on duty on Election Day has also been issued by ECP. A total of 3,70,000 army personnel including 1,00,000 serving and 1,90,000 reserve force will be deployed on duty on July 25.
The ECP also explained that ballot paper without signatures of Assistant Presiding Officer and official code mark of ECP will be invalid. Only ballot paper with nine boxes will be counted. It will also be invalid if attached with a paper or another thing. Polling for the first time in history will be one hour more as compared to pass elections across the country. Polling will be continued from 8 to 6 pm.