KARACHI – The Sindh High Court on Thursday issued notices to the chief election commissioner, the local government secretary and the Sindh advocate general, seeking explanation over the delay in holding the local government elections.
After hearing preliminary arguments from the petitioner, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi issued notices to the respondents while directing them to submit their comments on the constitutional petition, filed by Human Rights Commission for South Asia representative Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi, pleading to conduct elections of the local government across the province.
Accusing the provincial government and the election commissioner for causing delay in conducting the local government elections, the petitioner submitted that despite the fact that the tenure of the previous local government ended last year, the respondents are unwilling to conduct the elections in violation of the Constitution of Pakistan.
He maintained that the elections should have been held last year, but the provincial government was not ready to disclose the schedule for the next elections.
The plaintiff pointed out that according to Article 140(A), 32, 8, 5, 4 and the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO)-2001, the provincial government was bound to conduct elections, but the authorities concerned are reluctant to do so.
“The government and the election commissioner are violating the Constitution by adopting delaying tactics in this regard,” stated the petitioner.
The petitioner also termed the appointments of administrators in place of nazims as illegal, stating that they were appointed for a limited period, but they were running the local government’s affairs.
He stated that the local government system was established to bridge the gap between the people and the government for settling the civic problems at the grassroots level.
However, a vacuum of communication between them has developed now due to the absence of a local government system.
The plaintiff submitted that the previous local government had developed the city and had launched several development programmes, particularly between 2005 and 2010.
The Sindh chief minister, the Sindh chief secretary and the Sindh election commissioner were cited as respondents.
The petitioner pleaded the court to order the government and the election commissioner for conducting the elections according to Section 186(1) of the SLGO-2001. The court issued notices to the chief election commissioner, the local government secretary and the Sindh advocate general to submit a statement by May 5 to explain the reason of the delay in holding the local government elections.
