• Interior Ministry expressed inability in conducting polls
• It said security cannot be provided on such short notice
• ECP has decided to appeal the court’s decision

ISLAMABAD: The Interior Ministry has expressed its inability to conduct Local Government elections in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) tomorrow, BOL News reported.

The interior ministry officials have informed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that it is not possible to conduct the polls and provide all arrangements within a day.

Interior Ministry officials said that full security cannot be provided at such short notice. It stated that the security situation in the federal capital is already tight and they cannot provide security to 1,000 polling stations.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also said the federal government is not in a position to hold local government elections in Islamabad. He said they respect the court’s verdict but holding polls on such a short time period is not possible as the arrangements cannot be made in such a brief timespan.

The federal minister said more than 1,000 polling stations need to be provided security. He added that election material is still not deployed at the polling stations and the polling staff is required. Therefore, he said it is not possible to conduct the polls.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has instructed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold local government elections in the capital on December 31.

A single-member bench headed by Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir accepted the petitions of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) against the ECP’s decision to postpone the local government elections.

The court nullified the ECP’s decision and ordered to conduct the municipal elections in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) as scheduled on Dec 31.

According to reports, the ECP has decided to appeal the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision to conduct the municipal elections in the federal capital tomorrow.

The election commission held an emergency meeting after the court nullified the decision to postpone the polls and ordered to conduct as scheduled on December 31.

During the meeting, it has been decided to file an intra-court appeal against the verdict, sources revealed. The election commission will seek at least a week to conduct the polls.

The election commission has expressed to inability to conduct the local government elections within a day. It said the deployment of polling and security personnel would become a major challenge for the election commission.

Sources revealed it is an arduous task to transport and deliver the polling materials to the polling stations in such a short period of time.  It has been revealed that presiding officers taken from the education department have also returned after the polls were delayed.

The Election Commission is also concerned about the shortfall of presiding officers and polling staff. As a result, it has been decided to appeal the court’s decision to conduct the polls.

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