ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday again grilled the Sindh government for not taking measures to hold the local government elections and said that Sindh government was not serious in holding LG polls.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja chaired a meeting to discuss matters related to LG elections in Sindh and expressed his reservation over the sluggish progress of the Sindh government in taking measures for LG elections. He said that ECP had temporarily stopped working on delimitations as the Sindh government had adopted the stance that ECP could not work on delimitations without publication of census 2017.
The CEC argued that now after publication of census 2017, the Sindh government has adopted the stance that provincial government has reservations over the census 2017, which gave an impact that Sindh government is not serious in holding LG elections in the province.
Commission will hold meeting over the issue and take final decision at earliest
The CEC decided that the commission will hold an important meeting over the issue and will take a final decision as soon as possible. Earlier, Advisor to Chief Minister Sindh Murtaza Wahab told the commission that they had reservations over the census 2017, saying that Sindh government has appealed to the federal government over the matter under the article (7)154 and LG elections could not be held in the province until the final decision on it.
While briefing the meeting earlier, the Secretary ECP said that the commission has taken all measures including the notification of delimitations and delimitation authorities, saying that the Sindh government must provide ECP with maps and other relevant documents to start work on delimitations for holding the LG elections in Sindh.
Responding to the remarks of Secretary ECP, Chief Secretary Sindh said the government of Sindh wants to bring amendments in the laws related to LG in order to determine the number of various institutions including municipal corporations, municipal committees and local councils which come under the LG.
The official of the Sindh government sought time frame of six months for taking all these measures.