The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) submitted a request to the Supreme Court asking for an extension in the current election dates for local government (LG) elections.
The polls are scheduled for November 27 in Sindh and December 7 in Punjab and Balochistan – the dates provided as options to the ECP by the Supreme Court.
On Monday, the ECP filed a petition in the SC to grant four months duration for the preparations of local bodies elections in the country.
It was requested in the petition that time be given until March 2014 for the requisite arrangements for the upcoming local bodies elections in the country.
The ECP said that for LB polls in Sindh, 110 million ballot papers were required, while 300 million ballot papers were required for Punjab.
The ECP said that since the printing of ballot papers was “impossible” within the short time and rules and regulations prepared by the provinces had flaws, therefore, the holding of local body polls was “not possible”.
To seek deferment of elections, the ECP also cited reasons of allotment of election symbols in Punjab for party-based elections, besides the matter of local councils in the province.
Earlier, the ECP had asked Punjab’s provincial government to provide the body with all the required resources for making arrangement for the local government elections.
The ECP had made this demand in response to the provincial government’s refusal to make the arrangements itself as ordered by the commission on November 6.
The Punjab government had refused to arrange the local body elections, saying it was the commission’s responsibility.
The Supreme Court also approved a petition filed by the Sindh government in the Karachi registry regarding local bodies’ elections in the province on December 7.
However, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked that LB polls had not been held for the last eight years and conducting LB elections was a legal and constitutional responsibility of provincial government.
He remarked, “No one will be allowed to violate the law. Election Commission is an independent and autonomous institution and it should ensure holding of LB polls in just, transparent and impartial manner by exercising powers as per law.”
Advocate General (AG) Sindh appeared in the court on behalf of the government of Sindh and apprised the court of his government plea, saying the Shia community was engaged in their religious worshipping and government had to take care of their security.
The CJP said, “Whosoever has any complaint should resort to the ECP for taking proper measures. The ECP will do whatever it deems proper.”
Accepting the Sindh government’s plea for holding LB polls on December 7, the SC referred the petition to ECP to take decision on the matter.