No more by elections on local council vacant seats in Sindh 

KARACHI: No more by elections will be held on over 200 vacant seats of local councils in Sindh, ARY News reported on Sunday.

According to the local government law the vacant seats of the local councils could not be filled with by elections, when six months remaining in completion of the councils’ tenure.

The constituencies at all tiers of the local councils including metropolitan corporations, municipal corporations, town committees, district councils, and union councils, lacking representation due to any reason will remain vacant till the next local bodies election.

It is to be mentioned here that Sindh have over 1900 local councils and more than 200 council seats in the province are vacant due to one or another reason.

The four-year tenure of present local councils will come to an end on August 30, 2020.

According to details among more than 200 seats of local councils across the province include over 90 special seats for the minorities.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) recently ordered the government of Sindh to submit its reply over holding new local bodies elections in the province.

The high court bench ordered the government to file its written reply by March 10 over a petition filed in the high court seeking local bodies elections in the province.

Petitioner said that the local bodies in Sindh had completed their four-year tenures in different cities and districts, including Karachi, but despite the completion of the term, the provincial government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were not taking steps to hold the local bodies elections.

The bench ordered the government to inform clearly to the court as to when it is holding local councils elections in Sindh.

“It is being said that the government planning to hold local government elections in August 2020,” government counsel told the bench.