The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday called an emergency meeting to discuss the Sindh government’s request to delay the local body polls in Karachi division and Hyderabad district.
The meeting, chaired by the chief election commissioner, will begin at 1pm to review the provincial government’s second plea.
Earlier in the day, the Sindh government once again asked the electoral body to postpone the LG polls, citing delimitation issue and unavailability of army troops for deployment at the polling stations a day after the identical request was turned down by the ECP. Th election body, in its decision, announced that polls would be held as planned on Jan 15. The Muttahidah Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), a key coalition partner of PDM and PPP in centre, is mulling the possibility to pull out of the alliance if its demands regarding delimitation are not met.
In the fresh letter, the provincial government took up the security issue with the ECP, stating that the electoral watchdog had given no response to the concerns of the provincial govt regarding the unavailability of “Pakistan Army & Civil Armed Forces”. Owing to the prevalent security situation, the government said “there is a greater need for the presence of troops of Pakistan Army and Civil Armed Forces to be statically deployed at the polling stations”.
As the federal government has excused itself from providing the required troops, the provincial government has asked the ECP to delay the polls in Karachi division and Hyderabad district.
