LG polls in Karachi, Hyderabad: SHC orders ECP to release schedule

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to immediately release the schedule for LG polls in Karachi and Hyderabad.

The reserved verdict on pleas filed by Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, seeking immediate LG polls in Karachi and Hyderabad, the court ordered Sindh government to provide security and other facilities for the LG polls.

A bench headed by Chief Justice (CJ) Sindh High Court (SHC) Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh reserved its verdict on November 14.

It may be noted that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan had moved SHC seeking delay in the Karachi and Hyderabad LG polls until new amendments in the LG Law.

Earlier, the Sindh High Court (SHC) issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Sindh chief secretary on Jamaat-e-Islami’s request to set the date of LG elections in the province immediately. The second phase of LG elections was scheduled to be held on August 28, but the ECP postponed it due to torrential rains and floods in the province.

The request to fix the new date of the local body elections in Sindh at the earliest has been filed by the Secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi Munim Zafar and Saifuddin.

It was worth mentioned here that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh president and former federal minister Syed Ali Haider Zaidi had earlier demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should hold local government elections in Karachi as soon as possible and on a single day.

Zaidi asked the ECP why there was no discussion about compliance with the Supreme Court verdict in this regard. He said “The continuous postponement of the local government elections in Karachi was a political decision that favored the PPP and “their partners in crime, the MQM”.

He said that everyone knew that the PTI was heading towards a sweeping victory in Karachi and the only way to stop it was to postpone the election process on “flimsy excuses like a lack of security personnel”.