Karachi: PSP moves SHC to change NA-240 by-poll date

KARACHI: Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) on Monday filed a petition in Sindh High Court (SHC), seeking to change the date of the Karachi NA-240 by-poll, ARY News reported.

The Sindh government, Election Commission of Pakistan and others have been respondents in the plea filed by PSP.

The petitioner stated that ECP had announced polling on June 16 which will affect voter turnout due to a working day.  He pleaded with the court to direct ECP to conduct polling on Sunday.

It is pertinent to mention here that ECP has declared all polling stations for the National Assembly constituency NA-240 as sensitive.

The National Assembly seat comprising Landhi and Korangi area of District Korangi in Karachi, had fallen vacant after the death of the MQM-P MNA Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan on April 19.

The ECP had declared 203 polling stations in the constituency ‘very sensitive’ out of 309 polling stations, while remaining 106 polling stations have been declared ‘sensitive’.

The election commission had established 182 polling stations in Korangi and 127 in Landhi area for the by election scheduled to be held on June 16.

The NA-240 (Korangi Karachi II) seat have total 5,29,855 voters. The electoral body has set up 100 polling stations for male voters, 99 PS for women voters and 110 joint polling stations for the by-election under its polling scheme.

The nomination papers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) candidate for the by-election of NA-240 Korangi were rejected by the district returning officer Abdul Razzaq. The papers were rejected after the RO deemed the proposer’s signatures fake.

NA-240 by-election will be conducted on June 16.