JUI-F wants ECP to postpone Sindh LG polls

KARACHI: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) Sindh chapter on Wednesday wrote a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seeking to postpone local government elections due to extreme heatwave in the province, ARY News reported.

The election body has announced holding first phase of LG polls in Sindh on June 26.

In a letter written to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, Sindh ECP chief and Sindh chief secretary, the JUI-F Sindh chapter President Maulana Rashid Soomro has urged the election body to postpone first phase of local government elections in Sindh by four months due to severe heatwave.

“Sindh will remain in grip of the extreme heatwave by next four months which would affect the voter turnout,” he wrote in a letter.

The ECP, therefore, should immediately postpone LG polls in Sindh by four months, he said in a letter.

It emerged that PPP and other major parties of Sindh were also reportedly planning to urge the ECP to postpone the first phase of the Sindh LG polls.

According to sources, the Pakistan Peoples Party and other major parties are planning to urge the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to postpone the first phase of the local body elections. Sources say they made the decision after the PPP faced difficulties in allotting tickets to candidates across Sindh.

All major parties including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qoumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P0 and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) want the elections to be postponed. PTI wants the Sindh government to make amends to the Sindh local body bill before moving to elections, while Jamat-e-Islami wants rectification of old voter lists before the local body elections.

Also Read: Submission of nomination papers for Sindh LG polls begins

The LG polls will be held on June 26, 2022.

In the first phase, polls are to be conducted in the Sukkur, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas divisions. The Karachi and Hyderabad divisions will go to polls in the second phase.