ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Tuesday announced local government elections in Sindh and Punjab would be held on January 18 and January 30, respectively.
Earlier, the ECP cancelled its schedule for LG polls in Punjab and Sindh and convened a meeting on Tuesday to prepare a plan for holding the polls in January.
According to the previous schedule, LG polls in Sindh and Punjab were to be held on November 27 and December 7, respectively.
The decision to cancel the schedule was taken after the Supreme Court accepted the commission’s plea for postponement of the polls for lack of preparations by the provinces and because of other problems.
During Tuesday’s meeting, chaired by Acting Chief Election Commissioner Justice Tasadduq Hussain Jilani, the commission presented its new schedule for LG polls to be held in Sindh and Punjab.
Justice Tasadduq Jilani said local body elections in Sindh would be held on January 18 and in Punjab on January 30 while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa‚ cantonment boards and Islamabad, LG polls would be held in February.
The acting CEC called upon the departments concerned to extend full cooperation to the commission to hold local body polls in a transparent manner. He said it was a democratic right of the people to have access to the local governments.
Federal secretaries of different ministries‚ chief secretaries of the four provinces‚ the NADRA chairman and the Printing Corporation of Pakistan managing director also attended the meeting.
Under the new schedule issued by the commission, nomination papers would be received from December 10 to 13. Objections to the nomination papers would be received by Dec 14, whereas scrutiny of the nomination papers would take place from December 15 to 19.
Appeals against the decisions of returning officers (ROs) would be filed on December 20 and 21 and disposed of from December 22 to 25. The final list of candidates would be published on December 26.
PPP CAMPAIGNS TO DELAY LG POLLS
Staff Reporter from Karachi adds: Despite rejection of Sindh government’s demand to delay the polls for March next year, the PPP’s provincial government and opposition parties of MQM and PML-N have join hands, declaring the LG polls are not administratively possible on January 18.
They were of the view the polls will not possible on January 18 as delimitations have yet not been finalized. Lack of voter lists, ballot papers and other requirements mandatory for the polls are also the reasons for delaying.
However, the Pakistan Muslim League Function (PML-F) of Pir Pagara in Sindh from opposition benches stands with the stance of the Election Commission of Pakistan, demanding the Sindh government to implement the polls’ schedule unveiled by the ECP.
In this regard, the PPP leader and Sindh Senior Education Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Tuesday said the Sindh government wanted to conduct the polls but it was not administratively possible on January 18.
He said the provincial government could approach the Supreme Court against the decision of the ECP with a request to delay the date of LG polls till March.
Meanwhile, the Sindh government has decided to contact other likeminded parties and parliamentary parties to get their support for postponement of LG polls.
The Sindh government has planned to convene the Sindh Assembly session next week so it can easily get the resolution passed with unanimous votes of the provincial legislature.
Meanwhile, MQM’s parliamentary leader Sardar Ahmed and PML-N’s parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Irfanullah Marwat supported the viewpoint of the Sindh government of delaying the polls.