EDITORIAL: Even as the recent rains have wreaked havoc in Karachi highlighting the missing link in the delivery of services to people, the ruling party in Sindh remains resistant to the idea of devolution of power to the grass roots. Notably, as per the Elections Act, 2017, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is to hold local governments' polls within one hundred days of the expiry of the term of the local governments (LGs) of provinces. Accordingly, a day after the expiry of the LGs term in Sindh the ECP announced the schedule for delimitation of constituencies for holding of fresh elections, to be completed by October 30. Senior PPP member, Taj Haider, who heads the Pakistan People's Party's election cell, has taken issue with that, using the controversy surrounding the 2017 census to argue that delimitation of constituencies could not be carried out on the basis of provisional figures of population.
True, the outcome of the 2017 census having been questioned by Sindh for showing a considerable reduction in the actual population of the province, the federal government is yet to formally notify the results. Still, the argument does not hold much water considering that although the Constitution mandates that national census be conducted every ten years, the last one was conducted after a gap of 19 years. During this period, three general elections were held, including the one in 2008 that brought the PPP to power at the Centre. And the party formed the present government in Sindh following the 2018 general election held on the basis of provisional census data. The PPP leader, though, has contended that the 24th Amendment passed in response to the 2017 census had limited the use of provisional census results, quoting the relevant proviso that states: "for purposes of the next general elections to be held in 2018 and by-elections related thereto, the allocations shall be made on the basis of provisional results of the 2017 Census which shall be published by the Federal government." According to him, that means, unless the "the faulty figures of census 2017 are corrected it would not be constitutionally possible to carry out delimitation for any future elections." But nowhere does the amendment say it would be a one-time concession; and that pending official notification of census results, LG or other elections cannot be held. He also disclosed that his party had sent two communications to the ECP urging it to ask the government to implement the agreement that paved the way for the 24th Amendment, but received no response.
If truth be told the idea of devolution of power to the third tier of governance never sat well with the provincial governments in general and with the government in Sindh province in particular.
The outgoing local government did not have the financial or administrative autonomy that was available to predecessors under the Musharraf era. There is growing perception that the next step of the Sindh government would be to challenge the proposed polls in courts. It is unfortunate, indeed, that the PPP, a passionate proponent of provincial autonomy, should be seen to be denying the people the constitutionally mandated right to address local problems at the local level.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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