Non-party chairmen aspirants will not need signatures: EC

Independent chairman candidates will not require voters' signatures to be able to contest the upcoming Union Parishad election, which is set to begin in March.

The Election Commission has drafted the UP election rules, without incorporating such a requirement.

As per the Local Government (Municipality) Election Rules 2015, an independent mayoral aspirant, who was not elected mayor in the past, shall have to submit signatures of 100 voters of their respective municipality, with nomination papers, to contest the UP polls.

In parliamentary elections, independent MP candidates, who were not elected to the post before, need to collect signatures of one percent of the voters of their constituency.

The rules aim to keep dummy contestants out of the election race.

Election Commissioner Shah Nawaz told the news agency, "No such provision is being incorporated in the election rules as the Union Parishad polls are not as big as municipal and city corporation elections."

The EC has already started taking preparations to conduct election to 600 out of some 4,550 Union Parishads across the country in the first phase at the end of March.