ECP rules Karachi, and Hyderabad This month will see the holding of LG elections.
Elections are to be held in accordance with the current voter lists, and the petition submitted by MQM-P has been denied.
Elections will be held in the seats of Karachi and Hyderabad this month, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which issued its decision in the Sindh local body elections case on Monday.
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) plea to hold elections on January 15 as scheduled was accepted by the ECP, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) petition was denied.
According to the electoral watchdog’s assessment, the election will be conducted using the voter rolls that are currently in place.
The Sindh government has been ordered by the ECP to ensure that all election preparations are made.
As a result of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led Sindh government writing a letter to the ECP citing the MQM-position P’s calling for correction and changes in the new delineation of LG constituencies in both divisions, it was previously anticipated that the local government elections in the Karachi and Hyderabad divisions would be postponed yet again.
The MQM-P had petitioned the Supreme Court for the purpose, according to the letter.
It may be noted that on July 24 of last year, 16 districts in Karachi and Hyderabad were scheduled to vote in the second round of local government elections.
However, due to inadequate security and police presence brought on by the floods, the Sindh government excused itself from holding the elections.
Later, August 28 was chosen as the new date for the local body elections.
Additionally, because the elections were not held on that day, the date was changed to October 23.
However, on that day as well, the voting was delayed.
The MQM-P has been pressing for the creation of a new local government statute that complies with the Supreme Court’s ruling from last February 1st. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), among other parties, would stand to gain more if local elections were held without first establishing new delineations, according to the party.
However, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja has stated that the local government elections in Karachi will not be postponed at any cost despite the ECP having reserved its verdict on the applications filed against the voter lists on Friday.
