Election Commission has said that the preparations to hold the second phase of the local bodies elections in Sindh on Sunday (Jan 15) are complete, asking Sindh government to take necessary security measures for the same.
In its statement on Friday afternoon, the top electoral authority rejected Sindh government’s assertions on the holding of the polls as scheduled.
It termed the provincial government’s decision to withdraw the notification to hold polls on the basis of the existing delimitations two days prior to the schedule as illegal and unconstitutional, and against the local government law.
The ECP asked Sindh government to take the necessary steps to holding the elections as planned.
Moments before the statement, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that as per law, ECP cannot overrule the decision of the government, which he said had exercised its constitutional powers to withdraw the earlier notification on the MQM-Pakistan's insistence.
He made it clear that the electoral authority could not intervene with regard to the powers of the provincial government.
According to him, ECP, courts, and Sindh government all have their powers that they are free to exercise.
In a presser late on Thursday night, Memon announced that the polls scheduled for Sunday wouldn't be held for Karachi and Hyderabad divisions.
He had also said that polls in seven districts of Sindh – Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Thatta, Badin, Sujawal, and Jamshoro – would go ahead as scheduled.
The minister had said that the notification to hold elections on the basis of the existing delimitations had been withdrawn as per the demand of coalition partner MQM-P, which had serious reservations on it.
MQM-P earlier rejected the delimitation of local government constituencies, terming them "unjustified", and had demanded the withdrawal of the notification.
The decision to postpone local bodies elections in two divisions of Sindh came after an emergency meeting of the Pakistan Peoples Party, presided by party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and attended by Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, provincial ministers and the district presidents of the party’s Karachi chapter, among other party leaders.
The local bodies' polls in the province have been delayed for a prolonged period of time, while the city continues to suffer in terms of development and planning.
In its statement on Friday afternoon, the top electoral authority rejected Sindh government’s assertions on the holding of the polls as scheduled.
It termed the provincial government’s decision to withdraw the notification to hold polls on the basis of the existing delimitations two days prior to the schedule as illegal and unconstitutional, and against the local government law.
The ECP asked Sindh government to take the necessary steps to holding the elections as planned.
Moments before the statement, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that as per law, ECP cannot overrule the decision of the government, which he said had exercised its constitutional powers to withdraw the earlier notification on the MQM-Pakistan's insistence.
He made it clear that the electoral authority could not intervene with regard to the powers of the provincial government.
According to him, ECP, courts, and Sindh government all have their powers that they are free to exercise.
In a presser late on Thursday night, Memon announced that the polls scheduled for Sunday wouldn't be held for Karachi and Hyderabad divisions.
He had also said that polls in seven districts of Sindh – Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Thatta, Badin, Sujawal, and Jamshoro – would go ahead as scheduled.
The minister had said that the notification to hold elections on the basis of the existing delimitations had been withdrawn as per the demand of coalition partner MQM-P, which had serious reservations on it.
MQM-P earlier rejected the delimitation of local government constituencies, terming them "unjustified", and had demanded the withdrawal of the notification.
The decision to postpone local bodies elections in two divisions of Sindh came after an emergency meeting of the Pakistan Peoples Party, presided by party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and attended by Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, provincial ministers and the district presidents of the party’s Karachi chapter, among other party leaders.
The local bodies' polls in the province have been delayed for a prolonged period of time, while the city continues to suffer in terms of development and planning.