The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday announced an extension in polling time for upcoming General Election by an hour. The polling will now begin at 8am and end at 6pm instead of the usual 5pm, an ECP press release said.

The purpose of the extension is to ensure greater participation of voters in the polling process, the ECP said.

The move comes days after the ECP rejected Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) plea to extend polling hours until 8pm saying that the timings were ordained by the law and there was no need for them to be extended.

ECP issues notice to Nawaz over party name

Separately, the ECP issued notice to PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif to appear before the commission in a petition arguing the name of the party cannot contain the name of a disqualified person.

Nawaz, who was disqualified via the Panamagate verdict last year and later removed from his own party's presidency, has been asked to appear on July 9.