KARACHI: A five-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday reserved its verdict on the issue of repeated postponement of local body elections in Karachi and Hyderabad.
The bench was headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.
Last week, the Sindh High Court (SHC) reprimanded the ECP for sitting local body elections in Karachi and Hyderabad, warning against further delays. The court expressed its displeasure at the delay in hearing the petitions submitted by PTI and JI.
Murtaza Wahab of People’s Party, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman of Jamaat-e-Islami and Waseem Akhtar of MQM appeared during the hearing. IG Sindh, Chief Secretary Sindh and Secretary Local Government also appeared before the Election Commission.
Special Secretary Election Commission Zafar Iqbal told the commission that local body elections were postponed due to rains.
“However, the provincial government of Sindh has approved the postponement of local elections for 90 days,” Iqbal said.
He said that local body elections should be held as soon as possible in the light of the orders of the Supreme Court.
The secretary said that the delay in the local body elections is a violation of the Supreme Court order, ECP is ready to conduct the elections in Karachi.
The ECP Secretary asked the Home Ministry about the position of Frontier Corps (FC) and Pakistan Rangers to provide security and maintain law and order situation during local government elections.
The interior official said that the bulk of the security forces are still engaged in providing security in the flood-affected areas of Sindh.
“We are not in a position to meet the security requirements of local government elections,” the official said. “The situation does not allow us to deploy civil armed forces for the security of these elections”.
Sindh once Again Refused to Provide Security
Moving forward, Karachi administrator and Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab said the second phase of elections was postponed twice due to rain and floods. He further said that 25 to 30 percent of Sindh is under water.
“It is not possible to provide security forces and administrative staff for elections in Karachi.” Around 1,300 polling stations are sensitive in Karachi, and each station requires eight personnel.
“Aren’t you in a position to provide security?” CEC Raja questioned that the Election Commission and CEC have the authority to give the date of local body elections.
Wahab expressed his concern over security issues, to which Raja said that the elections should be held within 120 days. He further said that local elections will be held in Punjab as well.
The administrator said that the Sindh government conducted the elections in the first phase with mutual understanding, adding that it did not want any question to be raised this time.
Wahab said that the Sindh government has approved the postponement of the elections for 90 days. On this, the ECP member questioned how the Sindh Cabinet could use the Commission’s authority.
“According to the law, it is the power of the Sindh government to announce local elections,” Wahab said, adding that the provincial government would announce the elections after consulting the ECP.
Commissioner Sindh asked Punjab to provide police to the province to meet the lack of security.
The Chief Secretary of Sindh said that it is not possible to deploy 17 thousand security personnel in the city due to floods.
“We want local government elections that political parties and people call transparent,” he added, asking for more time.
He said that the flood victims also need security to which the commissioner said that the ECP will ensure the security of the voters.
