The Sindh government has withdrawn notification to hold the local government elections on the basis of existing delimitations, announcing postponement of the polls in Karachi, Hyderabad and Dadu scheduled to be held on January 15, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The provincial government has decided to amend the Sindh Local Government Act.
The Local Government & Housing Town Planning Department wrote a letter to the Sindh Election Commission announcing that “All notifications related to the delimitations of the councils of Karachi Division and Hyderabad District, issued under Section 10(1) & 16 of the SLGA 2013 by the Local Government and Housing Town Planning Department shall stand cancelled and the LG&HIP Department may take necessary action accordingly”.
The letter further reads: “The (Provincial) Cabinet directed the Local Government Department to apprise the PEC Sindh regarding post flood situation in district Dadu where large area is still under water and general population is having connectivity issues. Holding LG elections will deprive large segment of society from their constitutional right to vote. Therefore LG elections in talukas Mehar and Khairpur Nathanshah of District Dadu may be rescheduled/postponed.”
In a hurriedly called press conference in Karachi in the wee hours of Friday, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon announced that the Sindh government would not hold the LG polls in Karachi and Hyderabad scheduled for Jan 15 on the basis of existing demarcation of the constituencies as demanded by the MQM. He revealed that the notification of the delimitations of Karachi and Hyderabad constituencies was withdrawn.
The decision was taken during an emergency meeting of the Pakistan Peoples Party headed by its Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and attended by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah provincial ministers, PPP district presidents of Karachi and others.
Memon said that the meeting discussed the local bodies’ elections in the province and held a discussion on the reservations of its ally MQM over the delimitation issue. He said that the meeting decided to accept the demand of its coalition partner vis-à-vis postponement of the polls on the basis of existing delimitations.
He further informed that the Government of Sindh wrote a letter to the Election Commission to postpone the LG elections in Dadu due to floodwater still standing there.
He said the elections in other districts including Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal and Jamshoro would go ahead as planned on Jan 15.
He, however, made it clear that the provincial government was not cowered by the protests, rather it accepted the demand because it wanted to take along all its allies.
The second round of LG elections was scheduled to take place on July 24 last year, but the Sindh government excused itself from holding the polls over the lack of security and police presence due to the flooding. Later, the elections were also postponed on August 28, October 23, and today, the announcement was made for January 15 — making it the fourth time that the polls have been put off.
PTI, JI resent decision
Resenting the Sindh government’s decision to postpone the local government elections in Karachi, Hyderabad and Dadu, different political parties are mulling to hold protests against the decision.
The PTI and JI have voiced serious concern over the delay in holding the LG polls in Sindh.
The PTI has decided to move to the courts to challenge the Sindh government’s decision.
MQM hails decision
Meanwhile, an MQM delegation under the leadership of Farooq Sattar met with Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.
The delegation members including Faisal Sabzwari, Mustafa Kamal, Waseem Akhtar, and Javed Haneef expressed their gratitude over the Sindh government decision.
Nasir Shah, Sharjeel Memon, Murtaza Wahab, Qasim Naveed, Mukesh Chawla and Taimur Talpur were also present during chief minister’s meeting with the MQM delegation.
Reporter Shoaib Mukhtar