KARACHI: The Sindh government has once again approached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to delay local body elections, this time in Karachi and Hyderabad, citing pending work related to a Supreme Court ruling.
In a letter, the local government department of the provincial government said that the implementation of the letter and spirit of the Supreme Court’s judgment on the implementation of Article 140-A of the Constitution, amendments and reforms in the Local Government Act is pending. of constituencies for local government elections
It was stated that MQM Pakistan had also written a letter for the correction of constituencies while an application was also filed in the court in this regard.
The government also shared the opinion of the Advocate General of Sindh, who believes that there will likely be a change in constituencies.
MQMP has already challenged the existing delimitation of constituencies in court. The party is also dissatisfied with the current delimitation of constituencies in Hyderabad. He has also emphasized that the Local Government Act should be amended as soon as possible to fully implement the Supreme Court’s judgment on Article 140-A of the Constitution.
It said that as per the direction of the Supreme Court, the legislative process was to be completed to empower the local government bodies in the province.
Delay
Municipal elections were scheduled to be held in Karachi and Hyderabad on January 15. The elections were postponed several times earlier due to floods and heavy rains in the province.
The ECP had scheduled the local body elections in Sindh in two phases.
In the first phase held on June 25, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won a clear lead in 14 districts.
The 14 districts of Sindh where polling took place include Larkana, Qamber, Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Nowshero Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umarkot and Tharparkar.
The elections in the remaining districts of Sindh, including the Karachi division, were to be held on July 24.
However, the elections have been delayed due to heavy rains and floods. The Sindh government has been citing lack of security personnel and floods as reasons for not holding elections.
In November, the Sindh High Court (SHC) reprimanded the ECP for sitting local elections in Karachi, warning them against further delay and ordering it to announce the date for the polls.
In the same month, a five-member bench of the ECP announced that local body elections in Karachi and Hyderabad would be held on January 15, 2023.
