Sindh govt amends Local Government Act to delay polls

KARACHI: The second phase of the Local Government (LG) elections are likely to be delayed once again after the Government of Sindh removed a legal impediment in postponing the polls.

According to reports, the decision was made during talks between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) regarding the municipal elections in Karachi and Hyderabad.

The Sindh government has made an amendment the Local Government Act, 2016, paving the way for delaying the polls once again. The provincial cabinet has approved the amendment through a circulation summary.

Under Section 34 of the Local Government Act 2016, the Government in consultation with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has to conduct the polls within 120 days.

However, this clause has been changed under the new amendment. The amended act states, “Provided further that Government may extend or curtail the period mentioned in this section if the circumstances so warrant.”

The Sindh Government has said the Home Department and Police have reported that the current situation is not feasible for conducting local bodies elections. It said the amendment was done on the recommendation of Local Government Department.

It said the required police force is not available for LG polls in Karachi as additional troops deployed at the IDEAS exhibition and coronavirus vaccination centres. It said that police personal are also not present at sensitive polling stations.

Meanwhile, the ECP will hear the case regarding the LG elections in Karachi and Hyderabad on November 9. The meeting will be chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.

Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab will appear behalf of the provincial government and brief the electoral body regarding the law and order situation in the city.

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

The provincial government earlier stated the LG elections excused itself from holding the polls due to the unavailability of the required police personnel.

It stated that additional police personnel have been sent to Islamabad at the request of the Interior Ministry.  It further said that the police personnel cannot leave the flood-affected areas and peaceful local government elections are not possible at this moment.

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 police personnel are present in flood-hit districts, whereas 5,000 policemen have been sent to Islamabad. The ECP had already postponed the local government (LG) elections in Karachi scheduled for October 23.

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