- Sindh officials say can’t arrange LG polls before March 2016 as provincial govt is yet to amend LG laws
- ECP official says Punjab can hold polls by Nov this year but province is yet to submit data regarding delimitation of some districts to ECP
Officials from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab informed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday that they were ready to hold local government elections in May and November, respectively while Sindh officials said that the province would not be able to hold the long-awaited elections this year.
During a meeting of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (r) Sardar Raza, it was submitted that local government elections in Sindh will take place in March 2016 whereas polling in KP and Punjab can be arranged in May 2015 and November 2015, respectively.
The ECP will submit a response to the Supreme Court on February 12 regarding specific dates for the local government elections.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, ECP Acting Secretary Sher Afgan said that local bodies elections can be held in Punjab by November but the elections could only take place once the Punjab government hands over data regarding delimitation of certain districts to the ECP.
According to the representatives from Sindh, the province will gear up for local bodies polls by March 2016 as the Sindh government is yet to amend laws relating to local government polls as proposed by the ECP.
The representatives from KP told the ECP members that the province will be ready for polls by May this year. Representatives of cantonments said they have sent an ordinance regarding local bodies polls to the Law Ministry and are waiting for a response.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said that the government will hold local government elections as soon as the delimitation process of constituencies is completed. The PML-N is ready to hold the polls in Punjab but the process is marred with legal complications, he added.
“Now the legal complications have been eliminated but the ECP has to complete the delimitation process of constituencies. We will hold the polls as soon as this matter is resolved,” Rashid said.
Last year, the ECP had blamed the delay in local government elections on lack of political will on part of provincial governments.
The ECP had earlier said that the process of delimitation of wards for holding the local government elections would be initiated when the commission received complete data from Punjab and Sindh.
“The ECP is committed to initiating the process of delimitation for local government polls as early as possible after the receipt of complete information relating to notification of demarcation of local areas, determination of number of union councils/wards and authenticated maps from the Punjab and Sindh governments as well as amendments in the respective acts by the two provinces,” the commission had said in a report presented to the SC.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has repeatedly blamed the ECP and the provincial governments of Sindh and Punjab for delaying local bodies elections, which has, in turn, delayed these elections in KP as well.
Balochistan was the first province to complete the electoral exercise. The first phase of the local government elections in Balochistan took place on Dec 7, 2013, followed by two other phases on May 29 and Dec 31, 2014.