Karachi LG polls likely to be postponed for seventh time

KARACHI: Karachi Local Government (LG) polls are likely to be postponed for the seventh time as the Sindh government wrote another letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), ARY News reported on Monday.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) had already written a letter to change the delimitation for the LG polls. In the letter, the political party also gave a reference to the petition filed in the Supreme Court (SC) regarding the changes in the delimitation.

Moreover, the opinion of the Advocate General (AG) Sindh was also included in the letter regarding the changes in the LG delimitation.

READ: KARACHI LG POLLS: SINDH GOVT BANS TRANSFER OF TEACHERS

It is pertinent to mention here that the new phase of the Sindh LG polls are scheduled for January 15 in Karachi Division after its postponement six times.

Sources told ARY News that the delimitation will be changed in light of AG Sindh’s opinion and the court directions.

It emerged that the Sindh government sent the letter to the ECP following the advice of the MQM-P. The MQM-P leaders had opposed the organisation of LG polls on different occasions until changes are made to the delimitation.

In another development today, the ECP decided to review its decision regarding the organisation of LG elections in Islamabad in light of the high court’s verdict.

READ: ECP ANNOUNCES KARACHI LG POLLS SCHEDULE

The election commission will listen to the stances of the political parties. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has also decided to present its opinion before the election commission.

In Islamabad, LG elections are scheduled for December 31.

In November, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) had expressed its reservations over the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict to hold local government (LG) elections in Karachi and Hyderabad.

MQM-P had claimed that it was impossible to hold elections with unjust delimitation of constituencies and voter lists.

“Elections cannot be held without implementing the Supreme Court’s decision,” said sources while quoting MQM-P leaders.