ISLAMABAD - Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has expressed anger over the failure of Sindh government to make necessary rules for the upcoming Local Government (LG) polls in the province.
As LG elections in Sindh are scheduled to be held on September 20 this year, the absence of required rules supposed to be formulated by the Sindh government has triggered the ECP to an extent that it has asked Chief Secretary, Secretary Law and Secretary Local Government of the province to appear before the commission and explain the reasons why the basic formality has not yet been met.
The government of Sindh is required to finalize rules for nomination papers, electoral symbols, result compilation and undertake other administrative arrangements in order to assist ECP in meeting the formalities ahead of the election exercise.
ECP officials said the commission had repeatedly communicated to the Sindh government to make rules for implementing the Act the provincial assembly passed to hold LG polls adding that the Sindh government was still sleeping over formulating the rules.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retired) Sardar Raza Khan has convened a special meeting today summoning the high-ranking bureaucrats to explain the reasons for not undertaking the essential formalities.
The ECP has to explain to Supreme Court on Monday about the progress it made on holding LG polls in Punjab and Sindh for which the commission has to grill provincial governments for expediting arrangements ahead of the exercise.
But according to sources, the ECP is equally short of time in terms of finalizing arrangements for the upcoming polls. It faces problems on many fronts and is intending to seek more time.
Secretary ECP on Friday had requested Standing Committee of National Assembly on Parliamentary Affairs that LG polls in the two provinces should be delayed by one month due to flooding in Sindh and Punjab.
The secretary informed the committee that majority of the polling staff had to be trained properly before the polling day for which he said October 20 as polling day would be a good choice that would give more time to ECP to properly undertake arrangements.
However, the Supreme Court wants the polls to be concluded by September 20 asking ECP to issue schedule on July 28."We would once again request the court to grant us more time. Provinces particularly Sindh have not yet taken the essential actions. Ultimately, the ECP has to bear the brunt of delaying the polls," an official said.