Delimitations case: SHC seeks comments from top officials

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday issued notice to the Sindh chief secretary, local government secretary, law secretary and provincial election commissioner to file comments on a petition against the Sindh government’s powers to carry out delimitations for the local government elections.

The Sindh United Party (SUP) through its president Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah approached the court challenging certain sections of the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2015, under which the Sindh government had been empowered to carry out the exercise of delimitation of union councils and wards for the local government elections and appointment of assistant commissioners, mukhtiarkars and other Sindh government officials as delimitation officers, district returning officers, and returning officers.

The Sindh government retained the powers to undertake the task of delimitations itself for political motives, the petitioner alleged, adding the ruling party wanted to win the local government elections through gerrymandering and unlawful means.

The counsel for petitioner submitted that the Sindh government was redrawing Tapedar circle, Talukas, sub-divisions, and divisions under section 6 of Land Revenue Act to manipulate revenue boundaries in a bid to achieve their nefarious political goals.

He argued that as per the dictum laid down by the apex court, the delimitation exercise was to be undertaken by the ECP and not by the Sindh government.

The petitioner pleaded to the court to declare the Bill’s sections empowering the Sindh government to demarcate boundaries of council and wards instead of the ECP as unconstitutional. The court was prayed to suspend the operation of the Bill while restraining the Sindh government from demarcating councils and wards. It was further requested to declare the appointment of assistant commissioners and Mukhtiarkars or any other government officials as delimitation officers or deputy and assistant delimitation officers, district returning officers, returning officers by the Sindh government as illegal.

The petitioner prayed the court to issue directives for the authorities to deploy personnel of military and paramilitary force inside and outside the polling stations to be set up for local government polls.