LG polls: Sindh govt amends law to postpone elections for indefinite period

KARACHI: The Sindh government has made a new move to postpone local government (LG) polls for an indefinite period to end the obligation of holding elections within 120 days, ARY News reported on Friday.

The Sindh government exercised its powers to postpone the LG polls for an indefinite period by amending the LG Act’s Clause 34 which obligates the authorities to hold the elections within 120 days.

After the amendments in Clause 34 of the Sindh LG Act, elections could not be held in the timeframe of 90 days or for an indefinite period.

The Sindh Local Government Department sent another letter to the provincial election commission regarding the amendment to the relevant law. Prior to the move, the Sindh cabinet approved the summary to postpone the LG polls for 90 days.

Three-month adjournment

The Sindh cabinet approved a proposal seeking the adjournment of local government (LG) polls in Karachi by three more months. The cabinet approved the summary under Sindh Local Govt Act 2013 through circulation.

READ: SINDH EXCUSES ITSELF FROM HOLDING LG POLLS IN REPLY TO ECP

It is pertinent to mention here that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced to take up the case pertaining to local government (LG) elections in Karachi and Hyderabad on November 15.

Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab will appear before ECP on behalf of the provincial government. The Karachi administrator will brief the electoral body regarding the law and order situation in the port city.

Nisar Khuhro will represent Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in tomorrow’s meeting while former law minister Farogh Naseem and Waseem Akhtar would appear before EP as MQM-P representatives.

‘Unavailability of security officials’

In its written response, the provincial government earlier stated the LG elections are not possible due to the unavailability of the required police force in Sindh.

READ: SINDH GOVT SEEKS DELAY IN KARACHI LG POLLS FOR FOURTH TIME

It was also pointed out that additional police personnel have been sent to Islamabad at the interior ministry’s request.

The report further said that the police personnel cannot leave the flood-affected areas. Peaceful local government are not possible at this moment, the report added.

According to the Karachi police department, 37,000 police officials are required for security duties during LG polls.

The provincial authorities said that 17,000 cops could not leave the flood-hit districts, whereas, 5,000 Sindh police officials were sent to Islamabad at the request of the interior ministry.