KARACHI, April 30: The president of the Sindh chapter of Pakistan People’s Party, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, has announced that after consultations with party chairperson Benazir Bhutto, the party election in the province scheduled for June 10 has been postponed and the date for enrolling new members extended.

Speaking at a press conference at the PPP Secretariat here on Monday, Mr Shah said that the new schedule for the election, to be held in the constituencies of provincial seats and on UC levels, would be announced after June 30, following the completion of the party membership drive, now extended up to May 20.

Mr Shah said the PPP would welcome the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on his arrival here on May 12, and demanded immediate withdrawal of the presidential reference filed against him, urging the government to restore the sanctity of the judiciary.

He also demanded withdrawal of the condition of CNIC for voters in the forthcoming general elections, arguing that 35 per cent voters in Sindh were yet to get themselves registered in the computerised voters list. He called for revising the voters’ list to incorporate the names of all eligible voters in order to ensure transparency in the process of elections.

Mr Shah alleged that the Sindh government through its revenue department had re-demarcated constituencies in order to facilitate its plan for rigging in the next general elections.

He also criticised the government for pursuing wrong policies that had resulted in loadshedding and water shortage in Karachi and other parts of the province.

In reply to a question, he said the PPP condemned the incident of hooliganism in the City Council of Karachi on Thursday. He revealed that the MQM leadership had contacted PPP leaders in this regard and the latter authorised the PPP-backed Awam Dost nazims and the Leader of the Opposition in the City Council to hold a dialogue to sort out the matter.

Condemning the Charsadda suicide bomb attack, Mr Shah demanded compensation for those who lost their lives in the incident.

Earlier, Mr Shah chaired the PPP’s provincial executive council meeting which was attended by Nafees Siddiqui, Waqar Mehdi, Rafiq Engineer and other office-bearers of the provincial set-up.

The meeting decided to attend the reception being given to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) on May 12.

The meeting also discussed a number of issues concerning the political situation in the country, particularly Sindh. It expressed serious concern over the reports of ‘illegal delimitations’ being carried out in certain parts of the province ‘in connivance with revenue officials,’ and declared that the party would not accept such unconstitutional and illegal acts.